Past Mistakes
by InvisiMeg
Summary: Rachel makes a wish and finds herself in a place she never thought she'd be again. Now she's she reliving her senior year, trying to fix everything that went wrong and trying to find what she's been missing in her life.
1. Time Warp

**Hello and welcome to my first Glee fic!**

**Two months ago I stumbled across a Faberry fic that sounded interesting so I read it. Before this I had been kinda meh about the show, but I found myself going from one fic to another throughout my winter break and ended up turning into a total Faberry fangirl. I actually spent so much time reading that I completely stopped writing (if anyone that reads my Naomily fics is looking at this—I do apologize and will get back to them).**

**This first chapter is a bit short, but the rest will be quite a bit longer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Glee characters or any of the songs that might pop up.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 – Time Warp<strong>

Rachel groaned into her pillow as her alarm obnoxiously buzzed beside her head. She reached out and slammed her hand onto the snooze button, effectively stopping the noise. After a few moments, Rachel opened her eyes and blinked a few times as she stared at the clock.

_Six a.m.?_ She didn't even remember setting her alarm and she definitely didn't remember setting it for so early. She hadn't been up this early since she was in school. Instead of dwelling on it, she closed her eyes again and hoped sleep would come, but she eventually resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be falling back asleep anytime soon.

Plus she really had to pee.

After stubbing her toe on a piece of furniture that she didn't even know was there and running face first into a wall, she finally felt her way to the bathroom door and flicked on the light, flinching when the brightness hit her eyes. As soon as her eyes adjusted, she stopped in her tracks and stared wide-eyed into the mirror.

_What? How? What?_

She frantically looked into the mirror and then whipped her head around, looking around the bathroom, before turning back to stare at her reflection.

_A dream; this has to be a dream._

She pinched her arm and felt pain, but nothing else. After a few seconds, Rachel screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound of her scream was still echoing around the bathroom when she heard heavy steps coming up the stairs followed by an urgent knock on the door.

"Rach, honey, are you okay?"

When she didn't answer, her bedroom door was opened, the light was turned on, and her father appeared in the bathroom doorway looking expectantly at her.

Rachel's breath hitched.

"Daddy," she whispered, looking up into the mirror and seeing his reflection.

"You screamed," he stated as he stared at her with a frown on his face.

"There was a spider," Rachel lied, snapping out of her daze and throwing her arms around him.

He laughed deeply. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Rachel nodded as she backed away from him. "Yes."

He glanced at the clock. "A bit behind on your routine, aren't you?"

"Ye...yeah," Rachel stammered out.

"Well, you don't want to be late for the first day of your senior year!" he said brightly.

"Senior year," Rachel whispered to herself, her eyes wide.

_Oh. My. God._

"Are you sure you're okay?" He put his hand to her forehead and looked at her in concern.

"I'm fine, Daddy," she answered, batting his hand away. "I should really get ready, though. Wouldn't want to be late, would I?"

She was trying to act as normal as possible, but she felt like her heart was about to pound out of her chest and she was having trouble breathing properly. It simultaneously felt like something was squeezing her chest and like something was trying to escape from it. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Her daddy nodded at her, but Rachel could tell he didn't really believe her when she said she was fine. "I'll leave you to it."

He walked to the door and with one last glance, closed it, leaving Rachel alone in the room.

She looked around at the light yellow walls and white furniture—the room she hadn't be in for years.

"How did this happen?"

* * *

><p><em>Five Hours Earlier<em>

"Rach, sweetie, are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine, Kurt," she replied, receiving a skeptical eyebrow raise. "Really."

He looked at her for a moment. "No you're not."

Rachel sighed. "No—I'm really not."

Kurt wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his chest, taking a deep breath. They stayed like that for a few minutes before she finally pulled away, wiping a few stray tears from her cheeks.

"How did I end up like this?" she asked, shaking her head.

"It isn't _that_ bad," Kurt replied.

"I'm almost thirty!" Rachel threw her hands in the air and started pacing. "Thirty, Kurt, and I have nothing!"

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic? You're a star, Rachel," Kurt reasoned. "You've wanted to be on Broadway for as long as I've known you. All your dreams came true—maybe you should just enjoy it."

"So why do I feel so empty?" Rachel whispered as she looked over the side of the balcony at the New York skyline. "I know I have everything I thought I wanted, but why do I still feel this way? I'm almost thirty and I feel completely alone."

"This is just an early midlife crisis." Kurt frowned. "And you're not completely alone; you have friends that love you."

"I know," Rachel said, frowning as well, "and I love you guys too—and I know I'm sounding like a spoiled, selfish brat—but it isn't enough sometimes."

"Just promise me you're not going to get back with my dear stepbrother," Kurt replied, suddenly looking extremely worried at the prospect.

Rachel laughed loudly for a moment. "Heavens no; I divorced him for a reason."

"Good," Kurt said, putting his hand over his heart. "You scared me for a moment. Is that what this is all about though? You miss Finn or something?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, I am well over Finn."

"Talk to me, sweetie." Kurt patted the spot beside of him and Rachel sat down with a sigh. "When did all of this start?"

"I don't know," Rachel answered with a shrug. "I know I have no right to complain, but I just feel like something is missing from my life and I don't even know what it is. I've always had this void and I thought it would go away if I got everything I had always dreamed of, but it didn't help. I thought it would go away when I got into NYADA or when I married Finn or the first time I stepped on a Broadway stage, but it didn't and I just don't know what to do about it."

"I always thought you were happy," Kurt confessed.

"Well I can be a wonderful actress," Rachel replied with a small smile as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "By all accounts, I should be happy—any other girl would be. Why can't I be happy?"

"Honey—"

"No." Rachel shook her head. "Don't say anything; I know I'm being irrational. I'm just tired and simply being my overdramatic self."

"And here I thought you were starting to mellow out in your old age." Kurt nudged her shoulder and smiled, causing Rachel to let out a small laugh.

Rachel wrapped both of her arms around Kurt's left arm and laid her head on his shoulder. "What would I ever do without you?"

Kurt put his chin on top of Rachel's head and let out a contented sigh. "Let's hope you never have to find out."

"I should get some sleep," Rachel said, raising her head and giving his arm a quick squeeze.

He stood up and pulled the brunette with him. "Do you want me to stay over?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "Blaine is probably already wondering where you are."

"If you're sure," Kurt said as he followed Rachel into her apartment from the balcony.

Rachel walked across the living room and into her bedroom where she stopped and turned her head to the side. "Unzip me?"

Kurt did as he was asked and Rachel slid off her dress before quickly pulling on a pair of black shorts and one of her old, worn-out McKinley High t-shirts.

Rachel sat down on the edge of her bed and Kurt watched her in concern. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Of course," Rachel replied quickly, hoping to believe it herself.

Instead of heading for the door, Kurt walked around to the other side of the bed and pulled his boots off before settling down onto the mattress. "I'm staying."

"But—"

"No," he cut his friend off. "You're my best friend and Blaine will understand."

Rachel looked over at him. "You can't be very comfortable in that."

She waved a hand indicating his outfit, but Kurt just shrugged and stated, "I'll be fine; it's just one night."

Rachel turned off her bedside light and slipped under the covers before snuggling into her pillow.

"Thank you," Rachel whispered into the dark room.

Kurt was smiling although Rachel couldn't see it. "That's what best gays are for."

Rachel smiled even as a tear slipped down her cheek; she was thankful to have Kurt in her life. They hadn't always been friends, but they had grown closer over their senior year and, for the first time in her life, Rachel had found herself with a best friend. He was always willing to listen and didn't just tell her what she wanted to hear, which was something she was in great need of most of the time.

"Rach?" Kurt whispered

"Yes, Kurt?" asked Rachel.

"Have you always been unhappy?" Kurt wondered.

Rachel thought about the question for a moment before speaking. "I wouldn't necessarily say unhappy; I have been quite happy over the years—just with something missing. It's kind of hard to explain; I know I'm usually a lot more eloquent than this, but I really can't seem to put my feelings into words."

She felt Kurt shift so he was facing her. "Try—since I'm really having trouble understanding, sweetie."

"I have a hard time understanding myself sometimes," Rachel admitted. "The best I can describe it is that it feels like a part of me is missing."

Kurt nodded. "Are you just lonely?"

"I am, but it's more than that." Rachel shook her head, sighing. "It's always been more than that."

"So you are lonely, but this goes beyond just being lonely," Kurt clarified.

"Correct," whispered Rachel.

"And this was going on the entire time you were with Finn?" Kurt questioned.

Rachel nodded. "Yes."

Rachel bit her lip, thinking. She knew she was being foolish, but she really couldn't help her feelings. She figured Kurt was two seconds away from grabbing her shoulders and trying to shake some sense into her. She had everything she'd dreamed about, but here she was, whining about missing something. She had her dream job, an amazing apartment in the city she loved, and even more amazing friends. She really wanted to slap herself so she could only imagine how Kurt was feeling toward her.

"Well, I'm stumped," Kurt finally stated, pulling Rachel out of her thoughts.

"You're not mad at me?" Rachel wondered.

"Mad?" Kurt asked. "Why would I be mad?"

"Because I'm being pathetic and whiney and overdramatic as usual," Rachel stated, rolling her eyes at herself.

Rachel felt him shrug beside her. "Sounds like another day in the life of Rachel Berry to me."

Rachel tried to hold back a laugh as she lunged over and started ruffling the boy's perfectly quaffed hair, which cause Kurt to scream like a girl.

"Stop!" he yelled out, trying to still her hands.

"No," the brunette calmly replied, not giving her assault up. "You insulted me."

"I'm sorry!" Kurt said, shielding himself and nearly falling off the bed.

Rachel abruptly stopped and Kurt huffed, flopping onto his back and trying to fix his hair. She just laughed at him, though, and laid her head down on his chest.

"Thank you," Rachel whispered once again.

"For insulting you?" Kurt joked, smiling.

Rachel gently smacked his chest. "You know what for. You're always here to listen to my incoherent, irrational ramblings and I appreciate it. I know I don't thank you enough."

"You don't need to," Kurt replied. "You've always been there for me too."

Rachel smiled. "But I want to."

Kurt was silent for a few minutes before finally saying, "Make a wish."

It was something they always did when one of them was having a bad day. They started the tradition in the first year at NYADA after Kurt had a particularly rough day in class, and for some reason, it always made them feel better.

"I wish—"Rachel sighed. "I wish I could find whatever I'm missing in my life."

"Lame," Kurt teased.

"Lame?" Rachel scoffed. "I believe your last wish was for your hair to magically fall into place in the morning just because you were having a bad hair day at the time."

Kurt cocked his head "Touché."

Rachel laughed lightly. "Goodnight, Kurt."

"Sweet dreams, Rach," Kurt replied back.

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><p><strong>Please let me know if you liked it (or didn't). I'm a bit of a comment whore and will be more likely to update quicker if I know people are waiting for it.<strong>


	2. In Another Life

**First of all…wow. I did not expect **_**that**_** kind of response. My friends can attest to the fact that I was ridiculously nervous about posting this story so thank you to everyone that story alerted, favorited, or reviewed the first chapter.**

**And second...sorry for any mistakes. I go over it and so does a friend, but I can't ever seem to find everything.**

**Enjoy...**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 – In Another Life<strong>

Rachel went back to the bathroom and stood gaping at herself in the mirror. She turned her head to the left and then the right before touching her nose and frowning.

Her old nose.

Shortly after college she had been one of the final two girls for a show but lost the role because she didn't have the right 'look'. Right after that, she got her nose fixed—it had been Finn's suggestion.

She sighed and leaned back, looking at the clock in the other room. It was nearly seven; if she didn't get ready, she was going to be late.

She walked over and turned the shower on before quickly stripping out of her pajamas and jumping into the warm water. It took longer than most of her showers; she stood there for a while, closing her eyes before opening them back up, expecting to see the dark tile of her shower, not the white tile currently surrounding her.

After getting out of the shower, Rachel got ready in a daze and was only snapped out of it when the doorbell rang and one of her fathers called up to her. She glanced at herself in the mirror one last time, grabbed her bad, and walked out of her bedroom.

_Shit._

"Hey, Rach!" Finn greeted, smiling at her from the bottom of the stairs.

Of course Finn was there; he always picked her up for school.

"You look great," he said as he went to kiss her, but Rachel turned her head so all he got was her cheek.

Rachel was already making a mental to do list. _Item one: Break up with Finn._

She was already feeling bad for him; in this lifetime, they were happy together so she was going to have to let him down easy. He hadn't done anything wrong—yet—but there was no way she could pretend to be in love with the boy. Not after everything she knew was going to happen in their future. For a fleeting moment she thought about trying to fix all that, but something told her that's not what she was here to do. She didn't know why she was here, but it had to be a better reason than not ending up divorced.

Finn was looking at her in concern. "Rachel?"

"Hmm?" She looked up, realizing she'd zoned out. "Oh sorry! I'm ready."

Finn smiled at her with a dopey grin and took her hand in his. "Senior year; this is going to be great."

Rachel hummed in response as he led her to his truck, opening the door for her; she forgot how sweet he used to be.

Finn ran around the front of the truck and jumped into the driver's side while Rachel just stared out the window.

She was vaguely aware that Finn was rambling about something, but she wasn't listening to a word he was saying. All she could think about was what the hell was happening.

When she went to bed, she was twenty-nine years old, and when she woke up, she was seventeen again. That wasn't natural. Time travel only happened in the movies, not in real life.

Maybe she wasn't the only one this had happened to. But how was she going to find out? She couldn't just go up to people and be all 'hey, did you come from the future too?' People would just thing she was crazy. Well—crazier than normal.

"Rachel, have you listened to anything I said?" Finn asked her and she finally heard him.

"No," she replied honestly.

"Why are you acting so weird?" he asked, scrunching his eyebrows in that confused look that he often had on his face.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "I've had a bizarre morning."

She suddenly noticed where they were—the parking lot of William McKinley High School. After an involuntary gasp, Rachel opened the door and shouldered her bag.

_I can do this._

The brunette squared her shoulders and walked toward the double doors as her very confused boyfriend tried to keep up with her hurried strides.

When she entered the building, she stopped in her tracks, and Finn nearly collided into her. It was exactly as she remembered it; the off-white walls, the ugly color of the lockers, the red stripe down the middle of the hall, and of course the football players and Cheerios that had made her life hell.

Her senior year had been decidedly better than preceding three, but this was still a place she'd never intending on coming back to.

Yet here she was, staring wide-eyed down the hall.

"I need to find Kurt," Rachel said, suddenly taking off down the hall.

"I'll come with you," Finn said, once again struggling to keep up.

"No." Rachel turned around and put her hand on his chest. "Stay here."

"But—"

Rachel turned around and starting walking again, only feeling slightly bad about leaving Finn standing there. She just really couldn't worry about him right now.

"Kurt!" she shouted when she spotted him.

"Hello, Rachel," he greeted before the brunette flung her arms around him. "Uh Rachel? Not that it's not nice to see you, but—"

Rachel pulled away. "Sorry!"

He raised an eyebrow at her and then turned back to his open locker, checking his hair to make sure Rachel's embrace didn't somehow mess it up.

"What did you do last night?" Rachel tried to casually lean against a nearby locker and not look too eager to get his answer.

"Blaine and I talked on the phone most of the night," Kurt answered.

Rachel sighed. There went here theory that her bed was somehow a portal to the past. She couldn't help but be disappointed; this would have been easier with her best friend.

"Have you seen Quinn yet?" Mercedes came up to them and asked with a smirk.

Rachel's breath hitched and Mercedes and Kurt's conversation faded into the background. She was having trouble breathing again and slid down to the floor.

"Rachel?" Kurt was kneeling beside her while Mercedes looked on, not really knowing what to do.

"I'm okay," Rachel chocked out. "I'm simply having a minor panic attack."

She concentrating on bringing her breathing under control as Kurt slowly rubbed circles on her back. It was comforting and something he always did in the future to help calm her.

"Do you know where Quinn is?" Rachel asked once her breathing was returning to normal.

"Girl was under the bleachers when I saw her," Mercedes answered.

"Thank you." Rachel jumped up and left a very perplexed Kurt and Mercedes behind.

Rachel sprinted down the hall, nearly colliding with several students, and ran out the back door toward the football field, only slowing down when she reached the bleachers. She smiled instantly when she saw Quinn with her pink hair sitting in the dirt under the stands. The other girl was alone, her brows furrowed as if she was deep in thought.

"Quinn," Rachel said, barely above a whisper.

Quinn slowly looked over at the brunette and sighed. "What is it, Berry?"

Instead of saying anything, Rachel just shook her head and walked over to the former blonde.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Quinn harshly asked.

"I just—" Rachel didn't know what to say so instead of saying anything, she dropped to her knees and pulled Quinn into a hug.

"What the hell?" Quinn tried pushing Rachel away, but the brunette just held her tighter. "Rachel!"

"Sorry," Rachel said as she pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I—"

"Lost your mind?" Quinn supplied.

Rachel smiled sadly. "Something like that."

"Listen, I don't know why you're out here or why you're looking at me like you haven't seen me in ten years, but can you just go away?" Quinn pleaded.

"Nearly twelve, actually," Rachel said before she could stop herself.

Quinn scowled. "What ar—"

"I'll go!" Rachel interrupted, standing up. "Please come to Glee today, Quinn. I know you're going to quit it, but please don't."

Quinn looked up and locked eyes with the brunette. "What makes you think I'm going to quit?"

Rachel laughed lightly. "Let's just say that I know a lot that's going to happen this year. Please, Quinn—don't quit. I know you're going through a lot and I'm sorry that you're hurting, but we will be here for you. All of us. Please don't push us away. Just-just tell me you'll be there today."

Quinn opened her mouth and Rachel knew she was going to protest.

"Please," Rachel begged.

Quinn sighed and nodded. "I'll be there, Berry."

"Thank you," Rachel whispered.

"Will you go away now?" Quinn asked.

"I will leave you alone, yes," Rachel replied, nodding. "I'll see you later, Quinn."

As Rachel walked away, she made another mental note.

_Item two: Save Quinn._

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><p>The rest of Rachel's day seemed to drag on; she'd already learned this stuff before so it was all very redundant. The only upside was seeing people she hadn't seen in years. While she had kept in contact with some of her fellow Glee members, there were also quite a few of them that she hadn't seen in ages.<p>

She was so happy to see Tina that she ran up to the girl and wrapped her into a gigantic hug. Tina thought this was weird since she'd just seen Rachel the week before, but the brunette was acting like it had been years. Which of course it had been, but Tina didn't know that.

She'd also similarly frightened Artie, who now seemed to be avoiding eye contact with her.

While she was still thrown about being here, she couldn't help but also be excited and happy about it.

Rachel watched as Kurt strolled in. "Hey, Kurt!"

"Hello, Rachel," Kurt greeted.

"Are you busy tonight?" Rachel wondered.

"Blaine has Warbler practice so no, I am not busy," Kurt replied.

Rachel perked up. "Want to come over and have a girl's night?"

She mentally crossed her fingers and hoped he would say yes. While they were not as close now as they are later, she remembered that they had bonded quite a bit since they'd been in New York so she hoped he would accept the invitation. She needed her best friend around even if he didn't remember being her best friend.

"Sure," Kurt replied, nodding.

Rachel clapped her hands together. "Great!"

"Why are you talking like that?" Finn suddenly asked.

Rachel frowned and turned her head to look at him. "Like what?"

"Like—normal," Finn replied.

"Oh." Rachel averted her eyes. "I simply thought it would be beneficial if I tried to relate to everyone more by speaking like them."

Finn frowned. "So you're not using big words anymore?"

Rachel nodded. "Correct."

"Cool," Finn replied, smiling.

Ironically, Finn was the reason she'd changed her speaking habits years ago.

Rachel looked away from Finn and looked to the door, locking eyes with Quinn.

"Quinn!" Rachel smiled. "Hi."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Don't sound so surprised."

"I really didn't know if you would come," Rachel admitted.

"I told you I would," Quinn said as she plopped down in a chair in the back of the room.

"I know, but I thought you might just be trying to get me to go away," replied Rachel.

Quinn laughed. "I was."

"So why are you here then?" Rachel wondered.

Quinn shook her head. "Because I told you I would be."

"Oh." Rachel smiled to herself and turned around.

Everyone else filed in and Rachel found herself zoning out as soon as Mr. Schue walked in and starting giving his quasi-inspirational speech. However, she did realize they were talking about her and Finn's kiss at Nationals and she frowned at the memory. She never really forgave him for that.

She sighed, though, knowing where all this was heading and what damage it was going to do to New Directions. She couldn't let that happen this time.

Rachel's hand shot up. "May I make a suggestion for this week's assignment, Mr. Schue?"

"Uh, sure Rachel," he replied, scooting out of the way so the brunette could take the floor, but Rachel stayed seated.

"Déjà vu," she stated. "In honor of how far we've come as a group, I propose we redo songs that we have previously performed."

For once, Mr. Schue genuinely smiled at her. "I think that's an excellent idea, and it can go along with what I have planned." He suddenly looked very excited. "We need inspiration and we need to inspire more students to join us and that inspiration is coming courtesy of Al Motta of Motta's Pianos. Bring 'em in, guys!"

Rachel groaned. _Those damn purple pianos._

She watched as her fellow Glee clubbers got excited, but all she felt was dread. She knew she would never be able to talk her teacher into changing his plan so she was going to have to come up with a plan of her own.

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><p>After Glee, Finn drove Rachel home; he kept trying to engage her in conversation, but she was mostly ignoring him. As soon as he pulled up to her house, she quickly thanked him and darted out of the truck before he could kiss her or fish for an invite inside.<p>

She walked into the empty house and ran up the stairs and into her bedroom. After setting her bag down on her desk, she grabbed a pen and a blank sheet of paper from her printer and started writing.

To Do:

1. Break up with Finn

2. Save Quinn

3. Obtain Kurt as best friend

4. Stop Sugar from joining New Directions

The list wasn't necessarily in order of importance or necessity; she was already working on Quinn, didn't really know what to do about Finn, and was working on Kurt tonight.

Sugar was her biggest current concern.

Rachel had to make sure she wouldn't audition for New Directions. If she did, Shelby would come back; Quinn would go off the deep end; and Mercedes, Santana, and Brittany would abandon them. While everything mostly worked out in the end, Rachel really didn't want to go through it all again if she could help it.

She briefly thought about just letting Sugar in, but Rachel felt like she dragged the group down and was one of the reasons they lost Nationals so she quickly dismissed the idea.

She only had two days so she had to think of a plan soon, but before she could really start thinking about it, the doorbell rang. Rachel glanced at the clock; it was far too early for it to be Kurt.

Rachel flipped her 'to do' list over and headed for the door. When she opened it, she found Tina smiling shyly at her.

"Hello, Tina," Rachel greeted.

"Hi, Rachel." Tina was fidgeting with her hands. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah!" Rachel stepped aside and smiled at her.

Rachel led them to the living room and motioned for her to sit on the couch.

"Would you like something to drink?" Rachel offered.

Tina shook her head. "No thanks."

"Okay," Rachel nodded. "A snack?"

Tina laughed lightly. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Not to be rude, but—"

"Why am I here?" Tina finished.

Rachel smiled. "Yes."

"You invited me," Tina stated.

Rachel's smile faltered and she frowned in confusion. "I did?"

"A few days ago," Tina said, laughing. "Are you okay? You've been acting really strange today."

Rachel nodded vigorously. "I'm fine; it's just—it's been a really strange day for me."

"You haven't been acting like yourself," Tina stated. "You didn't pay attention in class, you've been overly excited even for you, and you completely zoned out in Glee. I don't think that's ever happened before."

Rachel was thrown. Sure she and Tina were friends, but she never thought she would pay _that_ much attention to her. She was going to have to be better about acting the part of seventeen year old Rachel Berry.

"Really, I'm Fine," Rachel lied. "I just didn't get any sleep last night so I guess I'm not being myself today."

Tina looked at her skeptically but nodded. "If you're sure."

"Very." Rachel nodded. "I know I forgot, but if you'd like to stay, Kurt's coming soon and we're having a girl's night."

_Several Hours Later_

"Why is she going in there with that creepy guy?" Tina was pointing at the television, frowning. "She should really listen to her friends. Get out of there now!"

Rachel and Kurt looked at each other, smirking.

Kurt cleared his throat. "I thought you said this show was stupid."

"It is," Tina replied. "Why would anyone go anywhere with creepy people when they have some stalker. How does this A person know everything they're doing anyway?"

"Will you pass the popcorn?" Rachel asked, smiling.

Tina handed the bowl over and huffed at what was happening on the screen.

"Oh, Rachel!" Kurt perked up and clapped his hands together. "I wanted to know if you would accompany me to Miss Pillsbury's office tomorrow and talk to her about Juilliard."

"Uhh." _Crap. _"I was actually doing a little research this weekend and discovered that Juilliard doesn't have a musical theatre department."

Kurt's face fell. "What?"

"Don't worry, I did some more research and found a wonderful school called New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts and it's perfect for us," Rachel explained, thankful that she was a quick thinker since she knew she was going to be needing that skill a lot.

"So this place—"

"NYADA," Rachel said, smiling.

"NYADA," Kurt repeated. "It's a good school?"

Rachel nodded. "The best."

Kurt titled his head to the side. "Let's go talk to her about NYADA then."

* * *

><p>After Tina and Kurt had left, Rachel starting thinking about her problem with Sugar; she was lying in bed when the answer finally came to her.<p>

Santana.

She was currently standing by the dark haired Cheerio's locker, waiting on her to make her appearance at school.

Rachel was leaning against a locker, tapping her fingers when she saw the other girl making her approach.

When Santana spotted Rachel next to her locker, she scowled. "What do you want, Berry?"

Rachel gave her best smile. "I have a proposition for you."

Santana snorted. "Sorry, but you're not my type."

"Not that," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "Something else."

"I'm losing patience here." Santana ignored Rachel's gaze and started putting in her locker combination.

"All right, I'll cut to the chase," Rachel replied. "I want you to slushy someone."

"Please tell me that someone is you," Santana said, looking hopeful. "I've been dying to slushy you again."

Rachel scowled. "No. And why haven't you if you want to so badly?"

"I promised someone I wouldn't," Santana mumbled.

"Who?" Rachel asked, curiously.

Santana scrunched her eyebrows together for a moment. "Brittany."

"Oh." Rachel couldn't help but smile. "That's very sweet of her."

"Yeah—" Santana looked off down the hall. "Who is it then?"

"Her name is Sugar Motta."

Santana looked at her for a moment. "Why should I do it?"

"You like to slushy people, I need someone slushied." Rachel shrugged. "It seems like a win-win."

Santana looked at her suspiciously. "Not that I really care but why her?"

Rachel looked down at the floor. "I can't say."

"Then no," Santana said, closing her locker and walking away.

"Wait!" Rachel called after her. "I'll pay you."

Santana snorted and didn't stop walking. "I don't need your money, Berry."

"I'll make sure you get a solo at Sectionals," Rachel said, frantically.

Santana stopped and pivoted around to face Rachel. "What the hell makes you think I need your help getting a solo?"

"You-you know how Mr. Schue is; he's predictable when giving out solos," Rachel said, looking into Santana's eyes. "I'll make sure you get one even it means I don't."

Santana smirked. "You must be really desperate if you're willing to give up a solo."

"Please," Rachel begged.

Santana's face softened a bit. "Okay."

"You'll do it?" Rachel perked up.

"Don't look so happy or I'll regret agreeing," Santana said, crossing her arms. "When do you want it done?"

"It's imperative that it happens tomorrow, right before lunch," Rachel replied. "I don't care if you do it personally or if you get one of the other Cheerios to do it, but it needs to happen then."

Santana nodded. "It'll get done, but don't ever ask me for a favor again."

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Santana's ponytail bobbing away.

She hated that she had to stoop to this level, but she really didn't have much choice; she had to keep Sugar away from New Directions. She had been fine in the group for a while, but the night before Nationals, the thing between her, Artie, and Rory had exploded and all three of them quit. It had left them with not much time to prepare and it really showed. After all their hard work, they came in fifth place and their dreams of becoming national champions before graduating were crushed.

That was _not_ going to happen this time.

"Rachel."

She turned around to see Puck staring at her.

"Good morning, Noah," Rachel greeted.

Puck shifted his backpack up higher on his shoulder. "Can we talk?"

"I would love to but I'm supposed to meet Kurt at Miss Pillsbury's office in a few moments," Rachel replied. "Can we postpone it until later?"

Puck nodded. "Sure—later."

* * *

><p>The next day, Rachel was sitting in the cafeteria, watching the doors intently, and waiting on any sign that Santana had kept her promise.<p>

"Are you okay?" Finn was staring at her, frowning. "You look…panicky."

"I'm fine," Rachel tersely replied.

"Rachel," Finn said, trying again.

"What?" Rachel asked, still not looking at him.

Finn sighed. "Can you at least acknowledge that I'm here?"

Rachel looked at her boyfriend. "What is it?"

"Why are you so distracted?" Finn wondered. "You've been super jumpy all morning."

"I just have a lot going on." It was true; she had been very nervous about whether or not Santana would pull through and she'd stayed up half the night trying to come up with a contingency plan if the first plan failed. The lack of sleep was not helping her current disposition.

Finn looked hurt. "Did I do something wrong Saturday night?"

"I—" Truthfully, she had no idea if he'd done something wrong Saturday night. Her Saturday night was spent at a bar with several friends. "No—of course not."

"Then what is it?" Finn asked.

Rachel waved him off. "It's nothing."

She suddenly felt someone slid into the seat beside her and turned around to find Santana.

"It's done," she whispered as soon as Rachel looked her way.

"You're sure?" Rachel asked, whispering as well.

Santana scowled. "Of course I'm sure; I got some freshman on the squad to do it. I saw it happen with my own eyes."

"Thank you," Rachel said, smiling.

"Don't mention it," Santana replied. "No seriously—don't even mention it. I don't want anyone ever knowing I did you a favor."

Finn eyed the two girls whispering. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Rachel sat up straight and returned to her normal speaking volume.

Santana glared at him. "None of your business, Finnocence."

Finn clinched his jaw but ignored her. "So are we going to sing or what? There's a piano sitting over there."

Puck stared at him. "Dude, we're going to get murdered if we do it in here."

"But Mr. Schue—"

"Puck's right," Mercedes interrupted. "They'll kill us."

"Rachel," Finn said, turning to her.

She sighed; she knew how this turned out the first time and really didn't want to spend the rest of lunch picking spaghetti out of her hair. She was Glee captain, though, and they did have a different song this time.

"He's right." It pained her to say it. "We can't be afraid of performing even if it is in front of a potentially hostile audience."

"No one else looked very happy, but Finn was grinning at her. "Let's do it."

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe they threw food at us," Artie said, rolling into the choir room.<p>

Everyone was sitting around the room, glaring, and still picking food off of themselves even though it had been hours. Some people—the ones that previously had the pleasure of being slushied on a regular basis—were lucky enough to have a change of clothes and cleaning supplies in their lockers.

"It was the song," Mike stated.

Finn sighed. "It wasn't the song; Sing was a great choice." He smiled at Rachel who gave a pathetic one in return. "Maybe people just don't like their lunch interrupted."

"Yeah—I'm sure that's it." Santana was glaring a hole though the back of his head.

"It was no one's fault," Tina said. "They're just—"

"Neanderthals," Kurt finished for her.

Mr. Schue walked in and his face dropped as soon as he saw the group. "What happened to you guys?"

Santana looked mutinous. "Your assignment happened."

"We sang and they threw food at us," Artie said very succinctly.

Everyone was busy complaining while Rachel stared at the door, making sure her plan had worked. After a while, Quinn strolled in completely clean, which made Rachel frown. She put it out her mind, though, and went back to the arduous task of looking at the door.

"Rachel?"

Rachel hummed but didn't look away.

"Never mind," Finn said, shaking his head.

Rachel was pretty certain she hadn't blinked for ten minutes when the bell finally rang and she clapped her hands in triumph.

Before she could even think about what she was doing, she threw her arms around a very unsuspecting Santana.

"What the hell?" Santana was trying to pry her off and Puck was staring wearily at them both.

Rachel had a huge smile on her face when she released the Cheerio. "Sorry."

"Don't ever do that again, Hobbit." Santana walked away with Brittany by her side and Puck trailing behind the duo.

Rachel turned around to grab her bag but found an amused looking Quinn.

"What?" she asked self-consciously.

Quinn shook her head and started walking away.

"What?" Rachel repeated.

Quinn continued walked and shook her head. "Later."

* * *

><p>"What the hell are you doing at my locker again, Berry?" Santana crossed her arms and glared at the shorter girl.<p>

"I know what you're going to do today," Rachel stated.

Santana narrowed her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rachel sighed. "Yes, you do. I know what Miss Sylvester wants you to do and I'm asking you to please don't do it."

"How do you know whether or not she asked me to do anything?" Santana wondered.

Rachel shifted her eyes. "I just do."

"And how do you know I'd do the something she wanted me to do anyway?" Santana asked.

"I just do," Rachel repeated.

"Why don't you mind your own damn business?" Santana uncrossed her arms and stood directly in Rachel's face.

"Whether you want to believe it or not, you are my business," Rachel said, not flinching at the sight of the angry girl in front of her. "We're on the same team and kind of friends even if you don't want to admit it; I don't want you to do something you're going to regret later so please think about what you're going to do."

Santana looked slightly stunned.

"I know you said not to ever ask another favor of you but please," Rachel pleaded.

Santana took a step back and crossed her arms again. "How do you know any of this?"

"I told you—"

"And don't give me that 'I just do' shit," Santana interrupted.

"I can't answer," Rachel replied.

"I'm only going to ask you one more time." Santana stepped forward again.

"San!" Brittany suddenly appeared beside the two brunettes and was looking between them. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Santana replied, looking away.

"Why are you threatening Rachel?" Brittany asked, looking sadly at Santana.

"It's nothing, Brittany," Rachel lied. "She didn't mean anything by it."

With that, Rachel turned and quickly walked away while Santana was distracted by the blonde. She really didn't want to fight with her and was thankful Brittany had come when she did.

"Rachel!" She had been so focused on getting away from Santana that she didn't even realize Finn was calling her name until he grabbed her by the elbow and spun her around.

"Oh, sorry," she said to him; it seemed like all she did was apologize to people this week.

"Why are you ignoring me?" he demanded to know.

She could see the hurt in his eyes. "I'm not; I've just been really busy."

"With what?" he asked.

"Um." Rachel tried to quickly think of something. "School—and voice and dance lessons. It's my final year and I need to be perfect if I want to get into the best schools."

"I'm sorry." Finn's anger faded a bit. "I just miss you and feel like I haven't seen you all week. Can we hang out some this weekend or go out or something?"

"Sure," she said, nodding, and smiling lightly.

She had been avoiding him like the plague and she really felt terrible for it. Since he'd technically done nothing wrong yet, she didn't want to blindside him by dumping him for no reason, but she also didn't want to—and couldn't—pretend to be in love with him. She just didn't know how to tell him that it was over without crushing him. As far as he knew, they were happy and in love; she had been trying to come up with a plan, but had yet to think of an easy way of letting him down.

"Can I walk you to class?" he asked, extending his arm for her to take.

Rachel nodded and once again felt guilty when she saw the hopeful look in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Friday had gone much like it had originally; Santana hadn't listened to her on Thursday and was kicked out of New Directions. At least she wouldn't be gone for too long before coming back.<p>

She had tried but failed, and now she was starting to accept there were some things she would never be able to change. Not everyone was going to listen to her—actually, most people probably were not going to. She was just going to have to pick and choose the most important things and fight harder for those. This didn't mean she was going to give up on changing everything else, but she just had to figure out how to be more subtle about it.

She was staring at the list on her wall. There were still three items on the list; 'stop Sugar from joining New Directions' had been crossed out.

"At least I did one thing right," she said aloud to the empty room

She sighed and grabbed her school planner off her desk. She opened it up to the current day and started writing down everything she could remember that was going to happen. She wrote down everything, no matter how small. The more she knew was going to happen, the better off she would be in changing things.

She knew she wouldn't be able to change everything that went wrong his year, but she was sure as hell going to try.

It took her several hours, but she eventually had everything down that she could think of; even simple things such as Finn taking her on a date or their weekly assignments from Mr. Schue.

Then there were big things she wouldn't ever forget.

She stared at the last three entries for a moment.

June 3rd: Graduation  
>June 4th: Car Accident<br>June 5th: Quinn Dies

And then there were some things where failing was not an option; things she had to change or she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

* * *

><p><strong>I feel like I jinxed Quinn when coming up with this story. As soon as I found out she was going to be in the car accident, my initial thought was 'oh my god, what have I done?' <strong>

**I started thinking of this around the time Yes/No aired so anything that happened after that episode might not necessarily be put into the story, but some of it will be. There's just no way of predicting what they're going to do on the show (although clearly I can inadvertently predict some things) so there will be obvious deviations.**


	3. Lies

**Sorry for the delay, but I've had a crap ton of exams in the last week as well as several other things going on. Hopefully the next chapter won't take me quite as long as this one. I'm really shooting for updating once a week so we'll see how that goes.**

**LaurenKnight13 – It'll be a little while before you find out what Puck wanted to talk about. Rachel may have forgotten about it, but I haven't ;).**

**Sorry for any mistakes; my best friend usually reads over these but she's sick right now and I didn't want to make you all wait any longer.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3 - Lies<strong>

Rachel spent Saturday with Finn to appease him—meaning she sat around doing homework while he played some violent video game that made her cringe.

She was sad to say that it was something he never grew out of.

By the time Monday rolled around, she had done a lot of planning and had started making detailed charts and notes about the upcoming school year. Those charts and notes were currently hidden away under her bed, in the box with her diary; she didn't need someone seeing them and thinking she was crazy, but she also needed them to be somewhere she'd find them if she happened to go back to her future.

Over the weekend, she was getting increasingly paranoid that she would blink and be back in her twenty-nine year old life. It was one of the reasons for the meticulously details charts and notes. It was a map for the next year so even if she somehow went back, she hoped her younger self would find it and follow through with changing everything.

Or she'd just think someone crazy person with her handwriting had broken into her room.

In the box was also her theories for how she was here—which currently consisted of a blank piece of paper with the words 'theories for how I'm here' written on the top.

She had been so focused on coming up with ways to change everything, that she hadn't really had the time to stop and think about how she got here. She figured it obviously had something to do with that wish, but how it had happened was still a mystery that she hadn't had time to dwell on.

"Rachel, Finn's here!"

Rachel sighed; he was the problem she was currently focused on. She hoped that if she ignored him, he would get mad about it and eventually break up with her and he'd get to keep some of his dignity. It was backfiring, though. The more she tried to ignore him, the more he called and the needier he became.

As annoying as it was, she decided she was going to hang in there and wait for him to break up with her. She didn't even really know why she was doing it, but some part of her really didn't want to hurt his younger self.

Mostly she didn't want the guilt if breaking his heart adversely affected his future.

"Are you coming?" Finn was standing at the door and Rachel realized she had zoned out.

"Yeah, just let me get my bag," Rachel said, grabbing it off her bed.

The ride was silent and Finn held her hand the whole way, only stopping when they got out of the truck. Rachel tried to walk ahead of him, but he caught up and took her hand, smiling at her.

Her plan of avoiding and ignoring him was failing spectacularly.

"Hello you two," Kurt said as Rachel and Finn walked by his locker.

Rachel smiled. "Hello, Kurt."

Finn leaned down and kissed Rachel's cheek. "Sorry, Rach, but I have to talk to Coach Beiste. I'll see you at lunch?"

Rachel nodded and Finn gave her a quick kiss on the lips; she frowned at him as he pulled away.

As soon as Finn rounded the corner and was out of sight, Kurt turned and eyed Rachel. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Rachel said, shrugging her right shoulder. "Is there a reason you think something is wrong?"

"You're been a little—" Kurt frowned slightly, pausing to think. "—off. Plus, Finn came to my room last night asking if I knew why you're mad at him."

""I'm not mad at him," Rachel replied, averting her eyes. "I just—" She shook her head. "It's kind of difficult to explain."

"Come on." Kurt grabbed her hand and dragged her down the hall.

He pulled her into the choir room and shut the door, looking around for a second to make sure they were alone and that both doors were closed.

"We're going to be late for first period," Rachel remarked.

Kurt shrugged and took a seat on the piano bench. "Talk to me first and then you may leave."

Rachel sighed, wishing she really could talk to him like they always had when she had a problem, but that wasn't an option anymore.

Instead, she decided to play dumb. "What about?"

"About whatever is going on with you," Kurt replied. "Finn may not be the smartest guy in the world, but he _can_ tell when something is wrong."

Rachel wanted to laugh. "Really?"

"Sometimes," Kurt said, smirking. "He's right this time at least."

"I'm not mad at him," Rachel repeated.

"Okay, so you're not mad at him," Kurt replied. "But you are acting differently toward him; even I've noticed that."

Rachel sighed. "I don't want to hurt him."

"How would you hurt him?" Rachel gave him a look and his jaw dropped a bit in understanding. "You're going to break up with him."

"Yes," Rachel admitted, ducking her head.

"What happened?" Kurt asked. "You two were fine just a week ago. Did he do something? Did you do something? Is there someone else?"

Rachel couldn't help but laugh at Kurt's increasingly higher pitch. "There's no one else. I just—I don't love him. Actually, no, I do love him; I'm just no longer in love with him."

It was true. Despite everything that transpired between them, she did still love him and a part of her always would. It's part of the reason she was so reluctant to hurt him now.

"Why haven't you dumped him yet?" Kurt asked.

Rachel looked at her hands and started fidgeting. "I don't want to break his heart; he doesn't know anything is wrong and I didn't want to blindside him by it."

Kurt nodded. "So what is your master plan?"

"I was hoping to give it a bit of time and maybe he'll get the hint," Rachel replied

Kurt sighed. "You want him to be the one to do it."

"I really don't want to break his heart," Rachel said again, shaking her head.

Kurt frowned at this. "When did you become such a coward? Waiting on Finn to break up with you just so you don't feel as guilty?"

"What do you expect me to do? He thinks we're happy; how can I tell him that I suddenly don't love him anymore and don't want to be with him?" Rachel sighed in frustration. "He's going to want to know why and I can't even tell him!"

Rachel put her head in her hands and tried not to cry. Kurt looked on sympathetically and gently placed his arm around her shoulders.

"We'll work on it," Kurt whispered into her ear.

Rachel looked up. "How?"

"Maybe if he has someone else telling him that something might be wrong, he may start accepting it," Kurt answered.

Rachel gave him a small smile. "Thank you, Kurt."

* * *

><p>"Why are you always here?" Santana asked, scowling.<p>

"Can I talk to you?" Rachel asked.

"No," Santana replied, but Rachel opened her mouth to speak anyway. "But when has that ever stopped you before."

"Come back to Glee," Rachel requested.

"In case you didn't notice, I was kicked out," Santana replied.

"So apologize," Rachel said simply.

Santana scoffed. "I don't do apologies."

"Santana, I know you like to think you're a badass that doesn't care about anything, but I know better than that," Rachel stated. "You love being in Glee—even if you don't want to admit it. We all accept you for who you are, which is something you will never get from Sue or any of the other Cheerios."

Santana looked at Rachel with an unreadable expression on her face. "I _really_ want to punch you in the face right now."

"Go for it," Rachel said, smirking. "But it won't make anything I said any less true."

She was fairly confident that Santana wouldn't hit her; by the end of their senior year they had grown closer and she knew the signs of Santana being genuinely mad versus putting on her show face. If she was really mad and going to hit Rachel, her left eyebrow would have been twitching.

"What makes you think you know anything about me?" Santana asked. "Who says I even want to come back to that stupid club?"

Rachel shrugged. "Fine, hypothetically we'll say that's true and I was wrong about everything else, but Brittany is still there and you do love her and it's probably killing you that you can't spend that time with her."

Santana's eyes narrowed, but Rachel could hear her breath hitch. "You're wrong."

"Are you really going to deny that you love her?" Rachel's face softened. "I know you're scared about what everyone is going to think and say, but I can honestly say that it's not going to be as bad as you think. You'll get a few jocks being their usual Neanderthal selves, but your parents will accept you and those that don't will eventually come around."

Santana was clenching her jaw and her eyes were flitting around the hall, but she didn't say anything.

"Brittany loves you and she would be proud to be your girlfriend if you would just stop being so afraid and let her," Rachel said, continuing on. "I'm not saying you have to make an announcement to the whole world, but you should at least tell those people that are closest to you. People like us in Glee. I'm not lying when I say we all care about you and accept you for who you are."

Rachel watched Santana process everything. "Please contemplate what I said, Santana. I know you hate to apologize, but if you want to come back, let me know and I'll talk to Mr. Schue about it if you want me to."

_Two birds, one stone._

Rachel walked away smiling. She had just wanted to discuss Santana apologizing so she could come back to New Directions, but she took the opportunity to work on her other problem as well.

Santana needed to come out.

Rachel wasn't as tactless as Finn; she wasn't going to out her against her will, but she did need to push her some.

With Sugar not joining, that meant no Shelby, no Troubletones, and no reason for Finn to do what he did to Santana. Without that push, though, Rachel didn't know if she would ever come out. Santana had been so much happier after everything had happened, and Rachel didn't want her to not experience that.

"Rachel!" Brittany said as the brunette walked past.

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, giving the blonde a bright smile.

"Did it work?" Brittany eagerly asked.

"I don't know yet," Rachel replied. "I told her she should apologize and come back, but you know how she can be."

Brittany nodded sadly. "I miss her being in the choir room."

"I know you do, but I'm sure she'll come around eventually," Rachel said, hoping she was right; she knew how stubborn Santana could be sometimes.

"Can you keep trying?" Brittany asked, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"I'll keep trying," Rachel confirmed.

"Thank you!" Brittany launched herself into Rachel's arms.

"You're welcome, Brittany." Rachel smiled; like most people, she'd do anything to see the blonde happy. Even if that meant getting on Santana's bad side for a while.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rachel was standing by Santana's locker yet again.<p>

Santana sighed when she saw the girl and got ready for the inevitable. "What the hell do you want now, Berry?"

"I was wondering if you'd given any thought to what I said yesterday," Rachel said with a smile.

"Is your plan to bug the shit out of me so I'll apologize just to get rid of you?" Santana asked, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper.

Rachel shrugged. "If that is what it comes to then yes, I will be doing just that."

"Why do you care so much?" Santana asked. "Actually no, let me guess. You want me back so you can win Nationals this year and you can get out of this hellhole of a town. Without me, you don't have enough people to even qualify and the thought of losing and being stuck in Lima forever is just too much for you to handle. That's what it is, isn't it?"

Rachel shook her head. "Will you come with me? I swear, if you come with me, I will not be standing here for the rest of the week."

"Make it that you're not allowed to talk to me for the rest of the week," Santana countered. "I would make it longer, but I don't think you're physically capable."

Rachel smiled at her and nodded down the hall. "Let's go to the auditorium; it should be empty right now."

The two walked into the empty auditorium and Rachel took a seat in the back row while Santana sat on the back of one of the chairs with her feet propped up in the seat in front of her.

"You're wrong, you know," Rachel finally said.

Santana looked up and locked eyes with her. "About what?"

"All of it," Rachel replied. "I'm not going to lie and say I don't care about Nationals because you know I do and yes, I want you back so we can win because you are one of the best singers and dancers on the team. I hope you don't think that's the only reason, though."

Santana laughed. "Isn't it? We've never even hardly talked; why are you suddenly acting so damn concerned."

"Because I am concerned," Rachel said, huffing. "Why is that so hard to believe? You guys in Glee are my family, which means you are part of my family."

"Well, I'm not in Glee now, so I guess that means I'm out of your family," Santana retorted.

Rachel laughed. "It doesn't work like that. Once you're in, you're in for life."

"You make it sound like the mafia," Santana replied, smirking.

Rachel watched Santana for a moment. "Why don't you just apologize? You know Brittany wants you to come back."

Santana shook her head and mumbled, "Britt doesn't know what she wants."

"I'm pretty sure she does," Rachel replied.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Santana yelled before huffing and crossing her arms.

"I know that you two are eventually going to cease this thing where you two dance around your feelings for each other and you're finally going to be happy. You're both going to move to California after graduation; Brittany is going to become a professional dancer and go on tour with GaGa while you're going to graduate from UCLA. Once it becomes legal, you guys are going to get married, start a family, and probably live happily ever after because you two are so painfully in love."

Santana's eyes looked shiny and she was avoiding looking at Rachel. "What makes you think I want any of that?"

Rachel smiled gently. "Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you don't?"

Santana quickly wiped a tear away before looking back at Rachel. "No."

"You can have it all," Rachel stated. "You just have to stop being so scared."

"What the hell do you want me to do? The last time I opened myself up, Britt said she was in love with someone else. I told her I love her and she shot me down." Santana was gripping the chair so hard that her knuckles were turning white. "I can't go through that again."

"But she's not with Artie anymore," Rachel replied, standing up and sitting on the back of the chair beside the other girl. "And she loves you too; she's just waiting for you to be ready."

"I'm ready," Santana replied, looking at her feet. "I'm just not ready to shout it from the roof or anything."

Rachel smiled. "Which is fine, but you really don't need to hide it from your friends. It's not like we don't all know anyway."

Santana looked over at Rachel and actually smiled. "I thought you were supposed to be convincing me to come back to Glee."

"Oh yeah—" Rachel frowned for a moment. "Please come back to Glee?"

"I'll consider it." Santana paused. "All of it."

Rachel nodded. "Please do."

Santana put her feet on the floor and pushed off from the seat. "Now, no talking to me until Monday—and if you tell anyone about this conversation, I really will punch you in the face."

Rachel laughed, happy that she seemed to be getting through to the other girl.

* * *

><p>"Honey, are you alright?" Hiram was staring at his daughter, who was pushing her food around her plate.<p>

"I'm fine, dad," Rachel said, not taking her eyes off her plate.

Her fathers looked at each other, both frowning.

"Rachel," Hiram said, trying again to get his daughter's attention.

"Rachel!" Leroy said, finally causing the brunette to look up.

Rachel frowned. "What?"

Leroy and Hiram glanced at each other before looking back at their daughter.

Leroy cleared his throat. "Your dad and I have been talking and discussing your behavior as of late."

Rachel was still frowning. "May I ask what behavior you are speaking of?"

"You've been holed up in your room for the last week and half," Hiram replied. "We've only seen you for dinner and then you disappear again."

"Is there something wrong with you and Finn?" Leroy asked. "He hasn't really been around lately and he used to be here every other day."

"You're not your usual loquacious, upbeat self," Hiram stated.

"You are acting very strange, honey." Leroy put his hand over Rachel's. "We're just concerned about you."

Rachel desperately wanted to tell them the truth; she hadn't really ever lied to them before. Not about anything big anyway, but she didn't even know if they would believe her. She knew she would sound like a lunatic if she started talking about coming from the future. Her fathers were open-minded, but not _that_ open-minded.

"I'm fine," Rachel finally lied, sighing. "I've had a lot on my mind lately and I'm just trying to sort through everything. Really, though, it's nothing for you two to worry about."

Hiram nodded. "So you and Finn—"

"We are still together and we're—" Rachel cleared her throat. "We're going to break up—he just doesn't know it yet."

Hiram and Leroy looked at each other in surprise; Leroy arched his eyebrow as they seemed to silently communicate with one another.

"Why are you breaking up, sweetie?" Hiram asked. "Did he do something?"

"No," Rachel said, sighing. She was already getting tired of having this conversation with people. "He didn't do anything; it's me. I just don't think he's right for me and I'm looking at my future and I don't see him fitting into it." _Not this time._ "I'm trying to be realistic and ending it before I hurt him more."

"So why haven't you ended it then?" Leroy questioned.

"Can we please not talk about this?" Rachel asked, pushing the food around her plate again. "I already had Kurt interrogating me once this week."

"Sure, honey," Leroy said, smiling at his daughter. "You know we're here if you ever want to talk, though."

"I know," Rachel replied.

* * *

><p>Rachel was jogging around the park Saturday morning; it was just another thing she had to try to explain to her fathers. It was something she had never done as a teenager and they spent thirty minutes questioning her over why she was suddenly doing it. She really hated lying to them and knew they were seeing right through her.<p>

Not long after moving to New York, she discovered that a morning run through Central Park was something she loved. Her elliptical was fine, but she much preferred being outside and losing herself in the sights and smells of nature; it was one of the few ways she could clear her mind. She had even once tried to get Kurt to be her jogging buddy, but she soon realized the boy ran like Phoebe Buffay and quickly nixed the idea.

She'd had so much on her mind lately that she knew a long run was just what she needed. After running around the park for at least thirty minutes, she noticed a familiar flash of pink and slowed her stride.

Quinn was sitting on a bench about ten yards away. Despite having seen her every day for the last two weeks, Rachel still found her heart pounding every time she saw the girl.

It was weird seeing someone alive when twelve years ago, you went to their funeral.

Quinn's death happened right after graduation.

The Glee Club graduated in the afternoon and had spent the evening barbequing at Rachel's house; later that night, everyone made their way over to Puck's house where nearly their entire graduating class came to party.

Quinn had been one of the first to leave and Rachel and Finn weren't too far behind. The police were already upon the scene when Rachel and Finn drove by; Rachel immediately recognized Quinn's car.

The truck had run a red light and slammed into the driver's side. The occupant of the truck had run to the store to get more alcohol for the party and they were drunk.

She hadn't died instantly; she was taken to the hospital and machines were keeping her alive, but she was brain dead. Her mother made the decision so take her off life support as the other members of Glee gathered in the hospital waiting room, crying in each other's arms.

It was something Rachel couldn't get out of her head every time she saw Quinn—the glimpse she got of Quinn's bloodied, lifeless body being pulled from her car and the sight of everyone inconsolable as they waited around to find out her heart had stopped beating.

"Are you just going to stand there, watching me?"

Rachel's eyes snapped to Quinn's and she realized she'd been staring at her for a good five minutes.

She could feel herself blushing. "Sorry."

Rachel walked over to where Quinn was sitting and hesitantly sat down beside her. Quinn studied her for a moment before turning her face forward and staring at the small pond again.

"I didn't know you jogged," Quinn said after a few minutes of silence.

"I just started," Rachel replied before frowning. "How did you know I don't usually jog out here?"

Quinn looked over at her and cocked her eyebrow. "Because I'm out here every morning and this is the first time I've seen you."

"Oh." Rachel nodded. "Why do you come out here every morning?"

Quinn shook her head, looking away. "Do you have to ask so many questions, Berry?"

Rachel opened her mouth but quickly closed it and sat with Quinn in silence.

"It's peaceful," Quinn finally said after a while. "I like it out here. When I'm home I—"

"You what?" Rachel asked when Quinn didn't continue.

She just shook her head, though. "It's nothing." She let out a light laugh. "I don't even know why I even started talking about it."

"You mean you don't know why you started talking about it with me," Rachel said.

"Yes," Quinn replied.

After falling silent again, Rachel looked over at Quinn and began watching her again.

"Why pink?" Rachel wondered.

"What?" Quinn asked, looking over.

"Your hair," Rachel clarified, nodding toward the other girl. "Why did you choose pink?"

Quinn shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"That's it?" Rachel asked with a laugh.

"Well it was either pink, blue, or purple," Quinn replied. "I didn't think blue would go very well with my skin tone and I blindly grabbed between the other two."

"What made you dye it at all?" Rachel finally asked.

"Why do you think?" Quinn asked back.

"I don't know." Rachel shrugged. "Tired of everyone seeing you as the perfect, blonde cheerleader? So you stopped being blonde, stopped being a cheerleader, and hoped everyone would stop putting so much pressure on you to be perfect?"

Quinn smiled. "Something like that."

"How does your mom feel about it?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed. "She hates it, but she doesn't really say anything about it. I think she's still trying make up for kicking me out." Quinn frowned for a moment before her face went back to being indifferent.

"Are you two doing okay?" Rachel asked.

Quinn just looked at her, though, with an unreadable expression.

"Listen, I know we're not close, but I am a pretty good listener and I can keep a secret." That was really an understatement; while Quinn was not openly hostile with her anymore, they were nowhere near being friends. "Do you even have any friends anymore? You don't talk to Santana or Brittany and I'm highly skeptical that those Skank girls are anything more than a way to make everyone think you've changed. You're still Quinn Fabray, though; your hair might be pink and you may have questionable taste in clothing, but you're still you, and you can't just shut the world out."

Quinn started laughing hysterically.

"What did I say that was so funny?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"_I _have questionable taste in clothing," Quinn said between laughs.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I happen to think my wardrobe is better than it was in the past and you can no longer make fun of me for it."

"Oh I can totally make fun of you for it," Quinn said, grinning. "Although yes, it has improved, but it could still use a lot of work."

"What is wrong with my clothes?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"You dress like a thirty year old," Quinn replied.

Rachel huffed. She _was_ a thirty year old—well, nearly a thirty year old.

"Would it kill you to dress in jeans for just one day?" Quinn asked.

"Because you've worn jeans to school _so_ many times," Rachel countered.

"Fine, wear jeans Monday and I'll dress like my old self," Quinn stated.

_Do I even have jeans?_

Rachel looked at the smile that spread across Quinn's face and sighed internally. Of course she would do it; she needed to get the old Quinn back. Well, the old new Quinn—the Quinn that was happy, got into Yale, and had turned her life around. That Quinn most definitely didn't wear black t-shirts and ripped shorts.

"Fine," Rachel agreed.

Quinn cocked her eyebrow. "Really."

"Yes," Rachel replied. "I will wear jeans Monday if you dress like your old self—just don't dress in your Cheerios uniform or anything."

"Like Sylvester would ever let me into one of _those_ again," Quinn said, laughing. "She confiscated all of them the moment I quit."

"Do you ever miss cheerleading?" Rachel wondered.

"No," Quinn replied. "Well, yes—the actually cheerleading part; I liked winning competitions. What I don't miss is Sylvester and the hours of practice and abuse you have to withstand to be a Cheerio."

"That's all you miss?" Rachel asked. "What about the popularity?"

Quinn smirked. "I won't lie; it did have its perks, but no, I don't really miss having everyone in school clamoring to be my friend just so they can pretend to know me and use me to climb up the social ladder. At least when you have pink hair, you start finding out who your actual friends are."

"And have you finally figured out who your friends are?" Rachel asked.

Quinn looked at Rachel for a moment and then averted her eyes. "I'm still working on it."

"Let me know when you figure it out," Rachel joked.

"Will do," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed and stood up. "I should go; my fathers are probably wondering where I am by now since I did tell them I was just going for a jog around the park and it's been over an hour."

"I should probably get home too," Quinn said, looking off into the distance.

"Which way are you headed?" Rachel asked.

"That way," Quinn said, pointing down the path Rachel had come from.

"Me too," Rachel said.

They looked at each other for a moment and Rachel broke out into a grin before they both started walking down the path.

After a few steps, Quinn finally asked, "How did you know I was going to quit Glee?"

"Oh, uhh." Rachel paused for a moment. "I just figured you would. You changed your physical appearance and your attitude—it was like you were trying to get rid of everything that once made you Quinn Fabray so naturally I figured Glee would be the next to go. I was right, though, wasn't I?"

Rachel knew she was right, but she still couldn't help asking Quinn. She wanted to see how honest the girl would be with her. She didn't really know why it mattered to her, but it did.

"Yes," Quinn admitted, causing Rachel to smile to herself.

"I just don't understand why you would quit something that you obviously love," Rachel said, shrugging.

"And what makes you think I love Glee?" Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled. "Are you telling me you don't?"

"No," Quinn replied. "I'm just asking what makes you think I do."

"I can see it on your face," Rachel answered. "The only time you like truly happy and free is when you're onstage, singing and dancing. And I know that look because it's the look I get as well."

"Are you saying that being onstage is the only time you're happy?" Quinn asked.

Rachel sighed. "I guess I am."

"What about Finn?" Quinn asked. "I thought he made you happy."

"Maybe once upon a time he did, but things change—people change," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded, but didn't ask anything further even though, by the look on her face, she clearly wanted to. They were at the end of the path, though, and it was time for them to part.

"I'll see you at school," Quinn said with one last look to Rachel.

"Until then," Rachel said, waving goodbye. She took a few steps and stopped, turning around to look at Quinn's retreating form. "You know, I think that's the first real conversation we've had where I didn't walk away crying."

Quinn stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I'm really off my game."

Quinn grinned and Rachel turned back around and started jogging back to her house with a smile on her face.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are definitely welcome so please take a second to let me know what you thought.<strong>


	4. Step By Step

**Apologies for any mistakes…my best friend is never home anymore to edit these and I'm terrible at catching my own mistakes.**

**As always, thank you all for the wonderful reviews.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4 – Step By Step<strong>

Rachel walked down the hall, receiving curious glances as she went by; she ignored them, though, and made a beeline for Quinn.

"Has Sylvester talked to you yet?" Rachel asked the second she was within earshot.

Quinn looked over to her and looked her up and down. "Wow."

"What?" Rachel self-consciously asked.

Quinn shrugged. "I'm just surprised you did it."

Rachel put her hands on her hips and huffed. "I told you I was going to wear jeans today; did you think I was lying to you?"

"More like I was expecting you to wear a dress over the jeans or something," Quinn said, touching Rachel's sleeve and smiling. "Or at least one of your crazy animal sweaters."

"Is there something wrong with this?" Rachel asked, looking down at her t-shirt.

"No," Quinn said, genuinely smiling at Rachel. "You actually look really good."

Rachel could feel herself blushing at the compliment. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself."

Quinn laughed lightly. "I don't think the dress goes very well with the hair."

"I don't know," Rachel said, shrugging. "I think it goes quite well together. It's cute, actually."

"What were you asking me about Sylvester?" Quinn asked as she turned to her locker and grabbed a book out of it.

"I overhead her speaking to Becky," Rachel replied. "She was telling her how she wants to film you about how Glee Club ruined your life."

"But it didn't ruin my life," Quinn stated.

Rachel sighed. "When had that ever stopped her before? She'll do anything in this ridiculous bid for congress and she'll do anything to destroy us."

"What makes her think I would help her?" Quinn asked, scoffing.

Rachel smiled sadly knowing that she had tried to help her last time. "So she hasn't actually talked to you yet?"

"No," Quinn confirmed.

"What are you going to tell her when she comes to you?" Rachel asked.

Quinn smirked. "I'll tell her where to shove her camera."

"Quinn!" Rachel's eyes widened.

"I was just joking, Berry," Quinn said, laughing. "I'll just tell her I'm not interested."

"Really?" Rachel asked, looking into Quinn's eyes.

Quinn sighed. "You don't believe me?"

"It's not that I don't believe you," Rachel said, looking down.

Quinn shook her head and started walking away. "Yes it is."

"Quinn!" Rachel's hand shot out and grabbed Quinn's elbow. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to suggest that I didn't believe you. I know you've changed from the cheerleader that joined just to destroy Glee and I apologize."

"I'll see you later," Quinn said, gently removing her arm from Rachel's grasp.

Rachel sighed to herself and cursed her ability to always say the wrong thing around Quinn. Their tentative friendship had always left Rachel feeling like she was about to screw everything up when it came to the ex-Cheerio. Somehow it was always one step forward and two steps back with them. Rachel never knew where she stood with Quinn and it was something that had always driven her nuts.

* * *

><p>After school, Rachel walked into the choir room; she looked up when someone let out a low whistle and was surprised to find that Santana was the only other person in the room.<p>

"Whoa, Berry, you're dressed like an actual person," Santana said with a smirk firmly planted on her face.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "And what am I normally dressed like?"

"A Hobbit that gets dressed in a toddler's closet?" Santana replied, shrugging.

"Did you just come here to mock me?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"Because I have nothing better to do?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow and then sighed. "I apologized to Schue, okay? He told me I could come back."

Rachel smiled. "But I thought you didn't do apologies."

"And there it is." Santana crossed her arms. "I already regret it."

Rachel laughed. "I'm sorry, Santana; I'm very glad you're back."

"You best be glad," Santana replied. "This was your stupid idea."

"San!" Brittany said the moment she bounded into the room. "Rachel got you back!"

"What does that mean?" Santana asked, looking over at Rachel just as Brittany reached her and threw her arms around her.

"Brittany might have asked me to get you back," Rachel said, smiling.

"So you didn't mean anything you said?" Santana asked, actually looking hurt.

"Of course I meant it," Rachel softly said, pulling Santana over to her so Brittany wouldn't hear. "I wanted you back too; we all wanted you back. Brittany just overheard me telling Tina that we had to get you back and she made me promise I would do it. Since I was going to do it anyway, I agreed. Every time she came into the choir room and you weren't here, she looked like someone told her Santa wasn't real." The two looked over to Brittany who suddenly looked like her birthday had come early. "I told you that she loves you."

Santana nodded before walking back over to the blonde. Rachel just smiled and sat down in front of them; Santana leaned down next to Rachel's ear and whispered, "Thanks."

Rachel's smile grew—and then Finn chose that moment to walk in and it wiped the smile off her face.

"Hey, Rach!" he greeted.

"Hello, Finn," she stiffly replied.

She could see a frown start to form on his face, but it quickly disappeared and he smiled at her. She didn't return it, though, and looked to the door just as Tina and Mike walked in, closely followed by Quinn. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to walked over to where Quinn had sat at the end of the room.

"Hey," Rachel timidly greeted.

"What do you want, Berry?" Quinn asked.

"Nothing." Rachel shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to apologize."

Quinn sighed. "You already did that."

"I know," Rachel said, sitting down in the seat next to her. "But I wanted to do it again. I really didn't mean to hurt you earlier."

Quinn scoffed. "What makes you think you _can_ hurt me?"

Rachel watched as the rest of the group and Mr. Schue came in. "You're not invincible, Quinn—you are allowed to have feelings."

Quinn nodded. "So what stupid assignment do you think we'll get this week?"

Rachel smiled to herself and shrugged. "Who knows?"

Mr. Schue started talking and Rachel looked over to her seat next to Finn; her boyfriend was staring back at her, frowning, but Rachel stayed seated.

* * *

><p>"Get over here right now!"<p>

"I'm on my way, Kurt," Rachel said into her phone. "Why do you sound like you're panicking?"

"Because I am panicking!" Kurt loudly whispered. "I didn't think letting Brittany help would be so bad, but you have _got_ to see what posters she wants me to use, and anytime I try to turn her ideas down, Santana threatens me!"

"I'm nearly there," Rachel said, trying to calm him.

"Get here quicker!"

"Two minutes," Rachel promised.

She sighed, threw the phone into her bag, and pushed harder on the gas; she knew she needed to get there before Kurt pissed off Brittany or Santana.

After going to the NYADA mixer, Kurt had freaked out just like last time. This time, though, Rachel decided she would do everything she could to get him the class presidency. She didn't know if it would really matter, but she was afraid her meddling with everything would affect things in ways she couldn't predict, and the last thing she wanted was for her or Kurt to not get into NYADA together. Since Brittany hadn't even attended college, she wasn't very worried about any negatives if she took that away from the blonde.

Rachel pulled into the driveway and put the car in park; she grabbed her keys, locked the car, and rushed to the door. She quickly knocked and a few seconds later, she heard hurried footsteps.

The door flew open and before she could say anything, Kurt was yanking her into the house.

"Thank god you're here," Kurt said, looking slightly hysterical. "There's a poster with a rainbow and a unicorn horn on my forehead! My forehead, Rachel!"

"Calm down," Rachel said, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Brittany just wants to help you and you know how she tends to get carried away, but she means well."

"That doesn't help me!" Kurt said. "How am I supposed to tell her no? It's like kicking a puppy. A puppy with a very angry, overprotective owner that's going to rip my head off if I disagree with her!"

Rachel shrugged. "You don't tell her no."

"But—"

"No, listen," Rachel interrupted. "Let her get her ideas out and we'll gently guide her to something a little less—"

"Gay?" Kurt supplied.

"I was going to say extreme," Rachel said, frowning. "Like I said, she's just excited about helping you. And she _is_ trying to help you—just in her own Brittany way."

Kurt took a deep breath. "You have got to get in there."

Rachel nodded. "Stay down here for a bit and catch your breath; I'll go up there and try fixing things."

"Thanks," Kurt said, smiling at her.

Rachel walked up the stairs and opened the door; Brittany was sitting on the bed, looking at Santana, but turned around the second she entered the room.

"Rachel!" The blonde jumped off the bed.

"Hey, Britt," Rachel said, hugging the girl.

"Look at my posters!" Brittany excitedly said, motioning toward the bed. "They're awesome."

"They are very nice," Rachel said, looking at them and seeing what Kurt had meant. "But don't you think they're a bit—"

"A bit what?" Brittany interrupted, her face falling.

"Yeah, Berry, a bit what?" Santana asked, scowling at her.

"I'm not saying they're not great, because they are," Rachel hurriedly said. "But you know how everyone at school has been about Kurt and I just don't know if people will want to vote him if we use these. There are a lot of bigots at school and I think we might want to tone it down a bit—for Kurt's sake."

Brittany frowned. "But his poster is so boring."

"How about a compromise," Rachel suggested. "We can do something between your idea and his. You're right about his being boring; that won't catch anyone's eye."

Brittany smiled a bit at her, but Santana was still glaring in her direction. Rachel could see where Kurt was going with his poster, but Brittany was right—it really was boring. As it was, she didn't think he would win with either poster.

"I still think we should use mine," Brittany said.

"Kurt is downstairs trying to find snacks for us," Rachel lied. "Why don't you go help him, Britt?"

"Sure," Brittany said, smiling, and bounding out of the room.

Rachel quickly grabbed her phone and shot off a quick text to tell Kurt to keep Brittany downstairs until she gave the all clear. When she looked up, Santana was staring at her with an unreadable expression.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Not that I care, but what the hell is going on with you?" Santana asked.

Rachel shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"You're different," Santana stated. "School's been in for nearly a month and you haven't subjected us to one of your ridiculous diva storm outs yet. I haven't even seen you in your toddler wear, which is surely a sign of an impending apocalypse. Plus you've been blowing off Frankenteen, which I wholeheartedly approve of, but it's _so_ not like you. Usually you're disgustingly making out in the halls, with his ginormous paws all over you."

"It's nothing," Rachel replied, grabbing one of Brittany's posters. "We do need to talk about this, though. You know Kurt will _never_ get elected if we use these."

"Britt's proud of them," Santana said, taking a few steps forward.

"I know she is and I don't want to hurt her feelings," Rachel replied. "I simply want to guide her in a different direction that's a little more—understated. It can still be colorful, but the whole unicorn thing is a bit much and it is going to get Kurt beat up again. Kurt is the best person for the job; we just have to make the rest of the school see that."

Santana sighed. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Are you actually offering your help?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"And there you go," Santana said, shaking her head. "You're already making me regret it. That must be some kind of record."

Rachel laughed. "Sorry, I'll stop."

"Thank you." Santana rolled her eyes. "Now are you going to tell me what you want me to do or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

"You don't really have to do anything," Rachel replied. "Just don't disagree with us and stop looking at Kurt like you're going to kill him. And if you could find it in yourself to actually agree with us on some points, that would be wonderful."

"I might be able to do that," Santana said, crossing her arms.

"Thank you," Rachel said as she grabbed her phone again to let Kurt know it was safe to come up. "So—how is it going with you and Brittany?"

"You wouldn't answer my questions, so why would I answer yours," Santana replied.

"What question?" Rachel asked. "If you're talking about my relationship with Finn, I told you it's nothing."

"You're a shitty liar, Berry," Santana said, cocking her eyebrow.

Rachel gave her a small smile as Kurt and Brittany walked in. Kurt looked even more frazzled than he did downstairs, and Rachel could only wonder what Brittany had been saying to him.

"Here," Brittany said, tossing a bag of gummy worms to Santana.

Santana smiled. "Thanks, Britt."

"I was telling Kurt how we should make life size cutouts of him riding a unicorn and put them around school," Brittany said, smiling

_That would explain it._

"I was actually thinking about what we could do as well," Rachel replied. "I propose a photo shoot; Kurt can dress more like himself and we can make it nice and colorful."

"Can I be the one to take the pictures?" Brittany excitedly asked.

"Uhh—" Kurt and Rachel simultaneously said.

"She's actually good at photography," Santana interrupted.

"Really?" Rachel asked, surprised.

Santana and Brittany both nodded and Brittany announced, "My mom got me a camera last Christmas; I mostly take pictures of Lord Tubbington, but he doesn't like to sit still."

"She's taken pictures of me, too," Santana said. "She'll do a good job with Kurt."

"How about tomorrow in the choir room?" Rachel suggested. "Do you have Cheerios practice in the morning?"

Brittany shook her head. "Nope!"

"Well then, tomorrow morning in the choir room," Rachel stated.

"Can I pick out the decorations?" Brittany asked.

Rachel looked to Santana, who gave a slight nod. "Sure."

Kurt looked like he wanted to protest, so Rachel nudged him in the ribs to shut him up.

"Great!" Brittany hugged Rachel and then Kurt before grabbing Santana's hand to pull her out of the room.

"Can you wait in the car; I'll be just a second," Santana said to Brittany.

Brittany kissed her cheek. "Sure."

Santana made sure the blonde was at the bottom of the stairs before turning to Kurt and Rachel. "I'll go with her to get the decorations and make sure she doesn't go crazy with them."

Kurt frowned in confusion. "Why are you helping me?"

Santana looked at Rachel for a split second and then turned to the door. "Because someone recently helped me, and as much as it pains me to say it, I owe them. So this is me making things even."

Santana walked out the door and Rachel called after her, "You don't owe me anything, Santana."

This time, Kurt elbowed Rachel in the ribs. "Shh! She's actually helping!"

* * *

><p>Rachel was up so late talking with Kurt that her alarm was going off for twenty minutes before she emerged from the covers and finally heard it buzzing. She hurried got ready, but she was still running late to meet Kurt, Brittany, and Santana at the school. Her phone sat in her bag and had rung twice; she imagined it was Kurt freaking out so she didn't bother looking to see who it was.<p>

When she pulled into the parking lot, only a few other cars were there. She quickly got out of her car and made her way into the school; as soon as she got close enough to the choir room, she could hear Kurt's high pitched voice and Santana threatening him in Spanish.

"Where the hell have you been?" Kurt and Santana turned to ask at the same time.

Rachel stopped mid stride and looked at them; Kurt's eyes were wide and Santana was slightly red. "I'm sorry; I overslept, but I got here as fast as I could."

"Not quick enough," Kurt snapped.

"Okay, you need to calm down!" Rachel pointed a finger in his face before turning, putting her hand on Santana's shoulder, and walking her back a few steps. "And you need to calm down, too. What is going on? And where is Brittany; I thought she was supposed to be the photographer here."

"We haven't taken one damn picture yet because this diva keeps whining about every little thing," Santana said, glaring at Kurt. "Brittany is trying to help you and you've been nothing but a jackass to her!"

"Okay, everyone just take a deep breath," Rachel said, holding her hands out between the two fuming people.

Santana rolled her eyes. "You take a damn breath, I'm fine the way I am."

"Come with me," Rachel said, grabbing Kurt by his jacket collar, and pulling him out of the room.

"Why are you making Santana mad?" Rachel asked. "Can't you play nice?"

Kurt scoffed. "Since when do you take her side on things; you two aren't even friends."

"It's complicated," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"No it's not!" Kurt replied. "She hates you and has done nothing but treat you terribly and suddenly you're in collusion with her? I know you've been acting weird, but this is whole new level."

Rachel sighed. "If I didn't give people a second chance because they treated me badly then I would have a single friend—not even you if you recall. Santana and I have an understanding and it would be wonderful if you would stop upsetting Brittany."

"But we don't need her help," Kurt said.

"You're right, we probably don't," Rachel replied. "But do you know what could happen if you reject her? You can use her popularity to your advantage, but if you tell her you don't want her help, she may decide to run herself or get Santana to and then you'll have a tough time winning this thing. You need this to get into NYADA; you still want that, don't you?"

Kurt sighed. "Of course."

"Then let Brittany take your picture," Rachel said. "What were you even arguing with her about?"

"She wants a rainbow background," Kurt answered.

"So let her do it," Rachel stated.

"But—"

"No buts," Rachel interrupted. "If you want a chance of winning this, just go along with it. I mean, is having a rainbow really that bad? At least she's dropped the unicorn. It'll be colorful and get people's attention, which is the purpose of a campaign poster."

Kurt sighed. "Fine."

"Can you go find Brittany and apologize to her?" Rachel requested. "I'll let Santana know she can retract her claws."

Rachel walked back into the choir room as Kurt went wherever Brittany was.

"He's off to apologize," Rachel said whenever she entered.

"If he says one more thing to upset her—"

"He won't," Rachel promised. "So—you and Brittany?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "So—you and Finn?"

Rachel sighed and crossed her arms. "Never mind."

"That's what I thought," Santana said, smirking.

"Torturing someone else now?" Kurt joked when he came in and saw the look on Santana's face. "Can I talk to you a second, Rach?"

They walked to the side of the room and Rachel looked at Kurt. "What is it?"

"I wanted to ask for your permission to sing Barbra for my audition tomorrow," Kurt replied. "I know how sacred she is to you and I wanted to get your full approval."

"While I have no problem with you singing her song, don't you think you should choose something a little more—manly?" Rachel asked.

Kurt frowned. "What are you saying?"

"Tony is more of a guy's guy and I don't know if you'll get the part singing a song intended for a woman," Rachel replied.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm something I'm not," Kurt said, shaking his head.

She knew he was never going to get the part; he didn't last time and he wouldn't this time either. He might stand a chance if you chose a different song and performance, but she wasn't going to risk insulting him. Getting him to go along with Brittany's plan was one thing, but outright telling him he needed to act like someone else was an entirely different matter and she wasn't going to do it.

"Okay," Rachel replied. "You have my full blessing, then."

* * *

><p>"I thought I told you I was going to drive myself to school today," Rachel said, looking at Finn from the stop of the stairs.<p>

"I know, but I thought I'd take you anyway!"

He was smiling up at her and she sighed; this was really going to have to end soon, but he didn't seem any closer to breaking up with her. The more she pulled away, the more he hung on.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something," he said, extending his hand for her to take. "So I thought we could talk on the way to school."

Rachel nodded, ignored his hand, and walked past him; he was frowning behind her, but didn't say anything. She was wondering how much more of this he could take, but then she always reminded herself that he did date Quinn Fabray, so clearly he could take a lot of bitchiness.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked as soon as she settled into his truck.

"Can we get together this weekend?" he asked. "It seems like you're always busy and I haven't seen much of you lately. And I was thinking of auditioning for West Side Story! I know it's going to be taking up a lot of your time and I'll probably see even less of you, but if I'm in the play then we can spend that time together. I thought maybe you can help me this weekend with my audition since I don't really know what song I should sing and you're good at that kind of stuff."

"I can't, Finn," Rachel replied. "Kurt asked me to help him on his campaign this weekend and I already said I would."

She was going to have to find Kurt as soon as she got to school and tell him he was coming over to her house this weekend.

"But I need your help," Finn said, frowning.

Rachel shrugged. "So does Kurt; he needs this for his NYADA transcript."

"But what about me?" Finn said. "You're never around anymore and whenever we are together, you run off."

"I'm sorry, Finn," Rachel replied. "I have other things going on in my life."

Finn clinched his jaw and gripped the wheel tighter while Rachel sent a text to Kurt informing him of their weekend plans. She thought about adding in to not tell Finn about them not previously having the get-together, but thought it might actually help things alone if he knew she'd lied.

Yeah—she was feeling like a bitch right now, but she ignored the feeling.

When Finn got out, he slammed his door and looked at Rachel. "Are you coming?"

"I'll be in after a bit," Rachel said. "I need to go talk to someone."

Finn sighed. "Whatever."

Rachel bypassed the school building and walked to the bleachers, hoping to find Quinn there. Sure enough, she saw Quinn's pink hair as she approached them, but this time she was sitting on top of them instead of under.

The metal bleachers clanged as soon as she stepped foot on them and Quinn looked over in her direction.

"Hey, Rachel," Quinn said, turning back to look at the field.

Rachel smiled. "You actually called me Rachel; you never do that."

"Sorry, Berry," Quinn said, smirking.

"It was good while it lasted," Rachel joked, shrugging her shoulders. "We're okay, right?"

Quinn looked over at her as she sat down. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"We haven't really spoken since Monday," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded. "We're okay."

"Good because I really didn't mean to insult you," Rachel replied.

"It's fine," Quinn said, shaking her head. "After everything I've done to Glee and to you, I really couldn't blame you if you didn't trust me."

Rachel sighed. "I do trust you, Quinn."

"Well you shouldn't," Quinn replied.

"Why not?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed. "Are you forgetting the last few years?"

"Are you telling me you haven't changed?" Rachel asked. "Because as far as I can tell, you're not that same person anymore and I believe in giving people a second chance."

"I think I'm on my fourth or fifth chance by now, then," Quinn said, smiling.

Rachel shrugged. "Maybe." She watched a few jocks run around the track before turning her head back to Quinn. "So why do you sit out here?"

"The same reason I go to the park," Quinn answered. "I almost always go to the park in the morning and then come here for a while." Quinn shrugged. "I would just stay at the park, but I'd never want to leave. At least when I'm here, it's a quick walk into the school so I won't be too late."

"The park definitely has a much better view," Rachel commented.

Quinn laughed. "What, you don't enjoy watching sweaty men run around a track?"

"Not particularly," Rachel said, scrunching her face.

"I heard Kurt's audition didn't go very well," Quinn said, turning to the brunette.

"No, it didn't. They don't really think he's manly enough for the role, which I tried to tell him to pick a different song, but he didn't want to and I didn't want to hurt his feelings." Rachel sighed. "And now Finn just told me he wants to audition for Tony so he can spend more time with me."

"And you don't want that?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "I've been trying to get some space and if he's there—it's just going to make things worse. He doesn't seem to know how to take a hint."

"Been there." Quinn laughed. "You're just going to have to tell him what you want because he will never get it. Guys normally don't get subtle hints and Finn is worse than most guys."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Rachel replied.

"When is your audition," Quinn wondered.

"Week after next," Rachel answered. "Coach Beiste is going to be busy with the Homecoming game next week so it's going to be after that before they go on with the rest of the auditions. Speaking of which, are you going to try out?"

"I don't know," Quinn replied. "I hadn't really thought about it."

Rachel smiled. "I think you should."

"Of course you think so," Quinn said, laughing.

Rachel shrugged. "It'll look good on your transcript for when you apply to college."

"Who says I'm applying to college?"

Rachel looked at her in surprise. "Of course you are; you're one of the smartest people at McKinley and you're going to be one of the few that get out of this town. It would be a complete waste for you to be stuck in Lima for the rest of your life."

Quinn's eyebrows knitted together. "You really think I'm going to get out of here."

"Absolutely," Rachel replied. "You're going to get into a wonderful school as long as you don't let this phase of yours interfere with your grades and extracurriculars."

"Phase of mine?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Can you honestly tell me that this is the real you? This pink hair and—hey!"

Quinn frowned. "What?"

"You're wearing a dress!" Rachel said, noticing for the first time that Quinn was dressed in her normal attire.

"You just now noticed that?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Rachel said, frowning.

"You have excellent observational skills," Quinn joked.

The bell rang off in the distance and the two girls looked toward the school, but neither made a move to get up. Rachel was enjoying sitting here, having a conversation with Quinn, and she didn't want to have to go. It was something she wanted throughout high school, but rarely ever happened. While they became civil to each other and even friendly, they still didn't have many conversations with one another. It had always been more an acquaintanceship than a friendship.

"So does this mean you're back to your old self—just with pink hair?" Rachel finally asked.

Quinn shrugged. "I haven't really decided yet. I just felt like wearing a dress today, so I did. Besides, I believe someone told me I look cute when I'm wearing a dress with my pink hair."

Rachel blushed. "That person was obviously very intelligent."

Quinn smiled and stood up. "We're going to be late for school."

"Yeah, I know." Rachel sighed. "I just—really like it out here and really don't want to go in there. Sometimes I feel like skipping altogether."

Quinn fake gasped. "Rachel Berry skipping school? Never!"

"Very funny," Rachel said, nudging her shoulder into Quinn's.

"Let's get you into the building before you run off and people start thinking you're some kind of delinquent," Quinn said, offering Rachel her arm.

"You're hilarious, Fabray," Rachel said, glaring at the other girl, but still linking their arms together.

Quinn guided them to the building and Rachel couldn't help but smile. This was a side of Quinn she'd so rarely seen; Quinn was almost never playful and Rachel found herself very much enjoying it.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are always greatly appreciated.<strong>


	5. Hear Me Out

**Thank you to everyone that has been reviewing. I love hearing your theories on the story and I'm happy to see that most of you are enjoying the Rachel/Santana dynamic. And to erw-fan, I do love cookies so it might work...and for future reference, my favorite is chocolate chip or snickerdoodle ;)**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 – Hear Me Out<strong>

For the most part, Rachel's weekend had been far from fun. Kurt had insisted on working on his presidential campaign at _his_ house, which meant Saturday evening had been spent with Finn hovering around her the entire night while she did her best to ignore his wounded puppy looks. Luckily, Kurt had gotten fed up with his stepbrother's behavior and agreed to go to Rachel's on Sunday, where they didn't so much as work on the campaign as watch Friends reruns.

By the time Monday rolled around, Rachel had been feeling a bit better, though. It had been nice spending Sunday with Kurt and almost felt like having her best friend back.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" Finn asked, sitting across from her at the lunch table.

Well, almost everything.

"I'm fine," Rachel replied.

"I was wondering," Finn said, shifting in his seat. "Since you couldn't help me this weekend, can we maybe get together tonight? You know—for my West Side Story audition?"

Rachel sighed. "I can't."

"Why not?" Finn whispered, leaning across the table. "Why do I never see you anymore?"

Rachel just couldn't take it anymore; her plan was far from working, and at this point, she was just hurting him more by _not_ breaking up with him.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" Rachel asked.

"Why?" Finn asked.

"In private," Rachel requested, trying to look impassive.

If she was going to do this, the least she could do was tell him in private, but he must have seen something flash through her eyes because he was suddenly staring at her with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open.

"Rachel—"

She could see the pleading in his eyes and it made her flinch. No matter what she did, she was always going to be the bad guy in this situation and she suddenly wished she'd done this weeks ago. She knew it probably would have been just as hard then, but at least it would have been over and done with.

"How about the choir room?" Rachel suggested.

"No," Finn said, grabbing his tray. "I don't think I need you to say anything to me."

"Finn—"

"No!" he said, cutting her off. "You're dumping me; I get it, okay? I'm not stupid. I really should have seen it weeks ago."

Rachel sighed. "I'm really sorry."

"Me too," he said, shaking his head. "Can you at least tell me what I did wrong? Is there someone else?"

"No!" Rachel said emphatically. "There's no one else. I—I just—" She sighed, not really knowing what to say. "I know it's a cliché, but it's not you."

Finn smiled sadly. "I wish that made me feel better."

With that, Finn left to sit with the other football players and Rachel couldn't help but feel guilty. She knew the look on Finn's face—it was the look he got when he tried not to cry. Rachel couldn't blame him, though; she felt like crying too.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, sitting on one side of her while Tina sat down on the other side.

"Yeah," Rachel lied.

Kurt looked over to the jock table and frowned. "Why is Finn sitting over there?"

Rachel gave him a look and she could see the realization on his face.

"Oh!" His eyes grew wider. "How did he take it?"

Rachel humorlessly laughed. "How do you think?"

Tina frowned. "What's going on?"

"I broke up with Finn," Rachel said, hanging her head a bit.

"Wh-what?" Tina asked. Her previous stutter may have been fake, but this one was real. "Why?"

"It's complicated," Rachel said, sighing. "Can we please not talk about it right now?"

"Yeah, sorry," Tina said, exchanging a look with Kurt.

Several other members of Glee joined them and Rachel was happy for the distraction. No one else seemed to notice that Finn wasn't around, or if they did, they didn't say anything. Tina kept shooting her sympathetic glances, though, and Rachel was happy when the bell rang and she could finally get out of the cafeteria and not have to see Finn's slumped shoulders from across the room.

* * *

><p>By the next day, it had spread like wildfire that Rachel and Finn's relationship had ended. Most people assumed he had been the one to do it, though, and several members of Glee had been giving her sympathetic looks. While it did hurt her pride a bit that everyone automatically assumed she was the one who was dumped, she wasn't about to announce that it was actually her that had done the dumping. After all, she <em>had<em> been trying to get him to be the one to do it, so if people assumed it, then she wasn't going to correct them.

At least by the time Glee rolled around on Tuesday, most of her fellow members had given up talking about it. Finn was still looking at her like a wounded puppy, but thankfully he was sitting on the other side of the room so she could attempt to ignore the looks he kept throwing her way.

"So are you bringing Blaine?" Mercedes asked Kurt as she sat directly behind Rachel.

"Of course," Kurt said, smiling. "We weren't sure if we were going to go, but it couldn't be any worse than prom, right? I sincerely doubt I'm going to get elected as Homecoming Queen, and if I do, at least now I know I look totally amazing in a crown."

Mercedes and Tina laughed; Mike quickly kissed Tina on the cheek and ran off to talk with the other guys, clearly not interested in talking about the dance.

"Are you going, Rachel?" Mercedes asked her and Rachel turned around to face the other girl. "I mean." Her voice got lower and her eyes darted over to Finn. "I know you two broke up, but that's no reason for you not to go and have some fun. If anything, it could take your mind off everything that's been going on and most of Glee will be there, so you'll have plenty of people to dance with."

"Thank you, Mercedes, but I won't be going," Rachel replied.

"Won't be going where?" Brittany asked, overhearing them as she happily skipped in with Santana right behind her.

"The dance," Rachel said as Brittany jostled her, sitting down.

"Why not?" Brittany asked.

"Given my current situation and lack of desire to go, I didn't really see any reason for it," Rachel answered.

"Well, I can't wait to go," Brittany said, bouncing slightly in her seat.

Rachel couldn't help but smile; Brittany's enthusiasm was always infectious. "Are you going with anyone?"

Santana and Rachel locked eyes for a moment before Santana looked away.

"No, but it'll still be fun," Brittany answered.

Rachel sighed to herself, wondering why Santana couldn't have just asked Britt to the dance. Santana knew how much Brittany loved school dances and they were quickly running out of time to go to one as a couple.

"Hey, I know!" Brittany excitedly said. "You could be my date!"

Santana's eyes snapped back to Rachel. "Uh—"

She had a feeling this was a lose-lose situation, no matter what she said. If she said yes, Santana would probably beat her up, but if she said no, she ran the risk of hurting Brittany's feelings, and then Santana would probably beat her up anyway. Santana was scowling at her and actually did look like she was going to hit her this time if she accepted the offer.

Rachel smiled kindly at the blonde. "That's sweet, Brittany, but I really think I just need some alone time this weekend. Maybe next time there's a dance and we're both dateless, we can go together."

Santana was scowling even harder at her, but Rachel didn't care; she just added the last part to be nice and was hoping to not hurt Brittany's feelings.

"Okay," Brittany said, shrugging. "But if you change your mind, we can still go."

Rachel nodded and turned to Santana, smiling sweetly at her. "So, who is your date?"

"No one," Santana gritted out between her teeth.

"Why don't you and Brittany just go together then?" Rachel asked, hoping to sound as innocent as possible. "You're best friends and neither of you have a date."

Now Santana looked like she wanted to lunge across Brittany and strangle Rachel. Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes were looking between the two brunettes, trying to figure out what was going on, and Brittany had put her hand on Santana's arm, clearly hoping to stop her if she did try to lunge at Rachel.

Luckily for Rachel, Santana seemed to instantly relax at Brittany's touch and mumbled, "I'm not going to some stupid school dance."

Rachel sighed and caught Brittany's eye; they smiled sadly at each other and Brittany shrugged her right shoulder. Instantly, Rachel could tell that Brittany _had_ asked Santana to the dance but had been shot down. She suddenly found herself with a scowl of her own, and before she even realized what she was doing, she'd stood up, grabbed Santana by the arm, and was pulling her toward the door.

"What the fuck, Berry?" Santana asked as she was pulled by the brunette.

Once they were out in the hall, Rachel let Santana go, crossed her arms, and shook her head. "Why won't you go with her?"

"Who says she even wants to go with me?" Santana asked, but Rachel could see the guilt in the other girl's eyes.

"She asked you, didn't she?" Rachel asked. "I could see it on her face in there."

Santana sighed. "Fine, yes, she asked me."

"Just go with her," Rachel said. "You're best friends; no one will give it a second thought. Or at least go separately and spend some time dancing together."

"That's easy for you to say," Santana replied, and Rachel could see the anger back in her eyes. "You won't have the whole damn school talking about you behind your back on Monday."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Santana, I've had the whole school talking about me behind my back for the last three years." Santana frowned and looked almost caring for a moment, but the moment quickly passed and she was back to looking angry. "Look, have I done anything for you not to trust me? You know I just want what's best for you and Brittany; I'm not trying to push you, but can you just think about showing up to the dance? Brittany would love it."

"Fine," Santana said huffing. She then paused and shook her head. "Why the hell am I always agreeing to do things for you? It's like I've entered some alternate universe."

Rachel laughed again. "I know the feeling."

* * *

><p>"Rachel?"<p>

She looked over to find Finn standing behind her, shuffling his feet, and staring at the floor. "Can I help you with something?"

"Listen." Finn shifted his backpack up higher on his shoulder and glanced up at her. "I know we just broke up and all, but I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to the Homecoming dance with me?" Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Finn stopped her before she could get a word out. "Just hear me out before you say no!"

_This is never going to end well._

Finn cleared his throat. "I already bought the tickets and a new tux before we broke up; I-I was going to surprise you with it, since things had been weird between us and I thought you were mad at me or something and I was hoping it would give a chance to have fun together, like old times." Finn started looking down at the floor again. "But then you broke up with me and I never had a chance to tell you about it, which is why I'm asking you now—as friends."

"Finn—" Rachel closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "While I would love to be friends with you, I just think it's too soon for something like this. I don't want to hurt you." Rachel shook her head. "I guess I should say, I don't want to hurt you even more than I already have. No good can come from us going to that dance together, even if we are just going as friends. I'm sorry."

Finn nodded and smiled sadly. "It was worth a shot."

"Why don't you try asking someone else," Rachel suggested. "I know you're not ready to date yet, but ask another girl to go as friends. I'm sure any girl would love to say yes."

Finn nodded. "Maybe I'll ask Brittany; I overheard her saying the other day that she didn't have a date."

"No!" Rachel blurted out.

Finn frowned. "Why not? What's wrong with Brittany?"

"Nothing is wrong with Brittany," Rachel replied. "I just—I just don't think you should ask her. I think things are a bit complicated with her at the moment and it would make it worse if you were involved."

"Listen, Rachel," Finn said, shaking his head. "You can't tell to ask someone else and then get jealous at who I want to bring."

"No—that's not—"

"Brittany's a great girl and I think she'd be really fun to go with." Finn shrugged. "So, since I can't go with you, and I know she doesn't have a date, I'm going to ask her."

Finn turned on his heel and started to walk away; Rachel's mouth was hanging open in horror as she watched him lumber down the hall, probably to find Brittany.

_Shit._

* * *

><p>"So I heard Finn asked Brittany to tomorrow's dance," Kurt said, sipping his latte.<p>

Rachel groaned and put her forehead on the table; she'd hoped after not hearing about it on Thursday, that Finn had decided not to go through with his plan. "Please tell me she said no."

"She said yes," Kurt replied.

Rachel groaned again and banged her head onto the table a couple times. "This is all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" Blaine asked.

"Finn asked me to the dance yesterday," Rachel said, sighing.

Kurt almost choked on his latte and Blaine had to rub his back to stop his sputtering. "He what? But you just broke up with him a few days ago!"

"Which is why I said no," Rachel replied. "He said he just wanted to go as friends, which would be fine, but I know that's not what he really wanted. I didn't want to lead him on, so I told him I couldn't go with him and suggested he should find someone else to go with."

Kurt shook his head in disbelief. "Doesn't he know that Santana is going to rip his balls off for asking Brittany?"

"I tried to suggest that Brittany might not be the wisest choice as a date, but he thought I was just being jealous," Rachel replied. "Santana is going to murder me, isn't she?"

"Definitely," Kurt replied.

"What does she expect?" Blaine asked. "She is so obviously in love with Brittany, but is too afraid of what everyone else will think, so she lets her fear hold her back." He shrugged sadly. "Brittany is a beautiful, sweet girl; how long does Santana think she's going to wait on her to come around?"

"He's right," Kurt agreed, nodding. "We need a gay intervention or something. Santana needs to see that there's nothing wrong with loving Britt and that no one cares."

Rachel raised her head from the table. "I've been trying for weeks now, but she's scared. And I don't think she's just scared about other people finding out, but she's scared that Brittany might not feel the same way that she does."

Kurt scoffed. "Brittany isn't the one holding out."

"I know that," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "Santana just doesn't like feeling weak and she's afraid of having her heart broken. I think taking that next step and actually telling other people is so scary for her because it will seem more real then. It won't just be her and few others knowing; it will be everyone knowing her feelings and she doesn't want to feel that vulnerable in front of everyone. She puts on a tough front, but Brittany is the one thing that seems to crack it, and that's what she's so afraid of."

"When did you suddenly start understanding Santana Lopez so well?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrow.

Rachel shrugged. "She's not so difficult to understand if you're paying attention. She just uses her bitchy attitude to keep everyone at arm's reach so they won't see that she's not as tough as she tried to make everyone think."

"Back up a moment," Blaine said. "What did you mean you've been trying for weeks with Santana?"

"I've been trying to help her," Rachel admitted.

"And she's actually listened to you?" Kurt asked, looking shocked.

"Mostly," Rachel replied. "I got her to come back to Glee, at least. I've been trying to get her to see that the people in Glee care about her and it doesn't matter to us if she's in love with a girl. I'm hoping for baby steps; maybe if she can be honest with us, she can eventually be honest with the rest of the school."

"She should know that none of us are going to judge her," Blaine said, sipping his coffee.

"I know, and I think she's actually coming around to the idea, but I need more time," Rachel replied. "This whole thing with Finn is just going to screw up any progress I've made."

"Is Finn really that clueless that he can't see what's going on between Brittany and Santana?" Blaine asked.

"Yes," Rachel and Kurt replied at the same time.

"Should we maybe tell him?" Blaine suggested.

"No!" Rachel loudly said, causing Kurt to jump in his seat. "Trust me—that information will not be safe with him, so it's better if he doesn't know the truth."

"Could you go to Brittany and ask her to reconsider her decision?" Kurt asked.

"Can you really see Brittany hurting Finn by telling him she changed her mind?" Rachel asked.

Kurt sighed. "Fair point."

"I don't think there's any way we can keep it from happening." Rachel stated. "Brittany isn't going to be mean enough to tell him no, Finn isn't going to listen to anybody and rescind the invitation, and Santana isn't going to ask Brittany to go with her instead of Finn." Rachel sighed. "I think the best we can hope for is that Finn doesn't try to do anything stupid like kiss her. I hate to ask since I want you to enjoy yourselves, but can you two keep an eye on them at the dance and make sure he doesn't try anything? He said he was going to ask her to go as a friend, and we need to hold him to that."

"Sure," Blaine answered for them.

"I don't think any of us want an angry Santana," Kurt said, nodding in agreement.

Rachel sighed and put her head back down on the table. "I really should have just accepted Brittany's offer."

* * *

><p>Rachel was pacing around her room with her phone in her hand; the dance had started a little over thirty minutes ago and Rachel was nervously waiting to see if Blaine or Kurt were going to call. She had instructed them to do so if anything bad happened at the dance so she could immediately get over there and diffuse any situation with Santana—or at least attempt to. Most likely it would come out that she was the reason Finn had asked Brittany and then she'd probably just get punched in the face and Santana would never listen to her again.<p>

When the doorbell rang, Rachel jumped and immediately ran down the stairs to open the door.

"Hey," Quinn said, smiling nervously at her.

"Quinn!" Rachel said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Quinn cleared her throat. "Well, I heard that you and Finn broke up and that you were the only person in Glee not going to the dance, so I knew you'd be alone tonight and I thought you might need some cheering up."

"While I'm happy to see you, I'm okay," Rachel said, opening the door so Quinn could step inside.

"I know Tina told me that you were the one to break it off, but it still has to be hard," Quinn said, coming inside the house.

"I appreciate the concern, but I really am fine," Rachel said, smiling.

"Do you want me to go, then?" Quinn asked.

Rachel bit her bottom lip. "No—stay."

Quinn smiled and then suddenly looked very concerned, glancing around the house. "Are your fathers home? Not that it wouldn't be great to meet them, but—they probably hate me after everything I've done to you."

"They are visiting my aunt for the weekend," Rachel replied. "So you're safe for now."

Quinn nodded. "They know, though, don't they? About me?"

"They do," Rachel said, nodding. "I am very close with both of them, so naturally I told them the hardships of my life at school. They don't necessarily know the extent of it, but they are aware that you and I have had some issues in the past. I can assure you, though, my fathers are very forgiving and believe in second chances as much as I do. If I tell them you've changed, they'll believe me."

"Expecting a call?" Quinn asked, nodding to the phone in Rachel's hand.

"Oh," Rachel said, holding the phone up. "Kurt and Blaine are at the dance and are supposed to call if anything bad happens." Quinn looked confused so Rachel clarified. "Finn and Brittany went together."

"That's awfully brave of him," Quinn replied. "Or I guess I should say stupid."

Rachel nodded, laughing lightly, and then motioned to the stairs. "Would you like to come up to my room?"

"Sure," Quinn replied.

The two walked up the stairs to Rachel's room; when they were inside, Rachel plopped down onto her bed while Quinn stood just inside the room, looking around.

"Make yourself at home," Rachel said, throwing her phone onto the nightstand.

Quinn slipped her shoes off and set them by the door. Rachel couldn't help but smile at how fidgety Quinn seemed to be.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked. "You seem a little nervous."

"That's because I am." Quinn laughed and run her hand through her hair. "I never thought I'd be in Rachel Berry's bedroom and it's a little strange for me."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I never thought Quinn Fabray would be in my bedroom," Rachel joked.

Quinn sat down on the edge of Rachel's bed. "I'm not even sure what I'm doing here."

"I thought you were concerned about me after my breakup," Rachel said.

"I am," Quinn replied. "But we've also never really been friends, so I don't even know why I thought I could make you feel better by being here. If anything, it would probably be the opposite. And I know you're probably going to say no and scold me for this, but I brought it anyway, just in case." Quinn pulled out a bottle of tequila from her bag. "Before you say anything, I don't really drink a lot, so please don't start lecturing me. My mom had me clear out my father's liquor cabinet after I moved back in and I kept it for some reason."

Rachel grabbed the bottle and unscrewed the lid, clearly surprising Quinn. Quinn's jaw dropped when Rachel took a drink straight from the bottle and Rachel had to stifle a giggle. Sure, she was against underage drinking, but technically she was twenty-nine and had drunk plenty of times throughout her life.

"So why _are_ you here?" Rachel asked, passing the bottle back to Quinn.

Quinn took it in her left hand as her right hand played with the edge of Rachel's comforter; she also suddenly seemed to avoid looking at her. "Because I'm sorry for the past and want to make up for it." Quinn's hand stilled and she looked at Rachel. "I was a complete bitch to you and you didn't deserve it. I'm sorry for the slushies, the drawings in the bathrooms, the threats, the names—I'm sorry for everything." She shook her head and furrowed her brow. "I think it would actually be easier if you hated me, but instead I get to hate myself for it."

"I forgive you," Rachel said and Quinn just shook her head again. "None of it is okay and it never will be, but I do forgive you for it. I just—I want to know why. Why me?"

She had forgiven Quinn a long time ago, but something she always wanted to know was why and she'd never gotten the chance to ask her before she died.

Quinn smiled sadly and turned around, sitting Indian style, so she was facing Rachel. "Because you were—you. And I don't mean that in a bad way; I actually mean it as a compliment. You didn't dress like everyone else, you had so much confidence and so much talent, and—" Quinn rolled her eyes. "I was jealous of that. I grew up feeling so insecure, and then I transformed from Lucy to Quinn and I wanted to show everyone the power I had. You were an easy target and I wanted to bring you down, but no matter what I did, you were still you, which pissed me off even more. I know how horrible I've been and I'll never deserve your forgiveness. All I can do now is tell you how sorry I am and hope to try and make up for it one day."

"So I just had the misfortune of being me?" Rachel clarified.

"Yes," Quinn said, flinching.

"Well—that's a really shitty reason," Rachel replied. "I was really hoping for something a little better like I unknowingly killed your beloved family dog when you were little." Rachel grinned at Quinn and the girl started laughing when she realized Rachel wasn't being serious. "Seriously, though, it really is a terrible reason, but at least I know."

Quinn took a drink, cringed, and then laid back on the bed, looking at Rachel. "Is it worse not knowing or knowing, but it being a really stupid reason?"

Rachel thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you think we can ever be friends? Quinn asked.

Rachel's eyes shot to Quinn's. "You really want to be friends?"

Quinn slowly nodded. "I want to try."

Rachel grinned. "Then we'll try."

* * *

><p>Rachel groaned at the bright light in her face the next morning; her head was pounding and the light was only making things worse. She raised her head and cracked one eye open to look around. She spotted the bottle of tequila on the nightstand and glared at it, wondering why she ever thought drinking that much would be a good idea. She should have thought better of it; her mind was used to her drinking, but her body definitely wasn't used to consuming that much alcohol—or really any.<p>

She sat up, but moved a bit too quickly and her head started pounding even worse.

"Quinn?" she called out, knowing the other girl had been there the night before.

When she got no answer, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat there for a moment while she got her bearings. That's when she noticed a glass of water and two pills that she knew she hadn't put there herself. She gladly took them, though, before getting out of bed and slowly making her way downstairs.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she could already smell food coming from the kitchen. She shuffled in there to find Quinn at the stove, not looking at all hung over.

"Morning," Quinn said, looking over her shoulder. Rachel grunted in acknowledgement and Quinn laughed. "I take it you're not feeling too well this morning. Did you take the Advil?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, sitting down on one of the stools at the island. "Thank you." She paused for a moment before adding, "How much did I have to drink last night?"

"Quite a bit; I tried to take the bottle away from you, but you just mumbled something about being nearly thirty and being allowed to do what you wanted," Quinn said, laughing.

Rachel groaned. "I did not."

"You did," Quinn replied. "Here, eat something." Quinn walked over, bringing a plate of food to Rachel. "And don't worry; I made sure everything was vegan before I made it."

"Thank you," Rachel said, attempting to smile at her, but it probably came off more as a cringe. "You didn't have to go through the trouble, though."

Quinn shrugged. "It's nothing. Besides, I am the one that brought the tequila over so it's the least I could do."

"True," Rachel joked.

"How's your head?" Quinn asked.

"Pounding," Rachel said, taking a bite of food. "How are you so okay?"

"Once I noticed how much you were drinking, I thought it might be better if I stopped," Quinn replied.

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, feeling bad. "I didn't mean to be a burden last night."

Quinn shook her head. "You weren't."

"Did I do anything stupid?" Rachel asked, not really sure whether she wanted to know the truth or not.

Quinn frowned. "Do you not remember last night?"

"I think I do," Rachel replied. "I'm just making sure I don't have any time lapses where I made a complete fool out of myself."

"You mostly talked," Quinn replied. "And you might have sung a couple show tunes at some point, but that's really no different than sober Rachel Berry."

Rachel nodded. "So nothing I should be worried about?"

"Nothing," Quinn said, smiling at her.

"You'd tell me if there was something, wouldn't you?" Rachel asked, still worried.

Quinn laughed. "I promise you that you did nothing embarrassing and there's absolutely nothing for you to be worried about."

"Okay," Rachel said, rubbing her face.

"I need to get home," Quinn said, sighing. "I didn't actually tell my mom I'd be gone all night, so I should get out of here before she notices I'm not there." Quinn gave Rachel's arm a squeeze. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Rachel answered. "Having a hangover isn't going to kill me, and it'll definitely make me think twice before doing _that_ again."

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "You're kind of entertaining when you're drunkenly singing Out Tonight."

Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh god."

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," Quinn said, laughing as she walked to the front door.

* * *

><p><strong>As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and are definitely a motivator for me.<strong>


	6. Underneath

**This is a few days later than I was hoping but migraines, exams, and getting into the WoW beta kind of got in the way.**

**You guys have seriously overwhelmed me with all the reviewing, alerting, and favoriting. Now I feel like I better not fuck up this story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 – Underneath<strong>

"Hello," Rachel said as she shyly approached Quinn.

Quinn smiled at her. "Hey."

Rachel was still feeling incredibly embarrassed about what happened over the weekend and was still worried that she made a fool of herself in front of Quinn. She didn't really know why she cared so much, but she did. Kurt had always mocked her about her drunken behavior and she was still afraid there was something she wasn't remembering even though Quinn had assured her that she had done nothing embarrassing.

"Do you mind if I sit?" Rachel asked, walking a few steps forward, but stop just short of the other girl.

"Do you really have to ask?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shrugged. "You might want to be alone."

Quinn laughed, shaking her head. "Even if I did want to be alone, would that really stop you?"

"True," Rachel said, smiling as she sat down.

"I see you survived your hangover," Quinn commented, looking out at the football field, but Rachel could see the smile on her face.

"Barely," Rachel joked. "It was really touch and go for a bit."

Quinn laughed. "You're okay now, though?"

Rachel nodded and then sighed. "I'm really sorry about Saturday night; I really shouldn't have drunk that much. I know I can be a handful when I'm like that and I shouldn't have done that to you."

"Don't be," Quinn said, shrugging her shoulder, and looking at Rachel. "My goal was for you to have fun and you clearly did."

"Maybe a bit too much," Rachel said, smiling to herself

"I do have one question," Quinn said, biting her bottom lip, obviously trying to stop herself from grinning.

"There's nothing more terrifying than that look on your face right now," Rachel commented.

"What look?" Quinn innocently asked.

"You know the look," Rachel said, elbowing her lightly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Quinn replied.

Rachel glared at her. "What's your question?"

Quinn grinned. "Just how many times have you seen Rent?"

"Oh god." Rachel buried her face in her hands before mumbling, "Why do you asked."

"Just wondering," Quinn said, shrugging. "You seemed to know every dance move when you were singing."

Rachel closed her eyes and could feel her entire face turning red. "As you can tell, I've seen it a lot. I saw the Broadway show when my fathers took me to New York and I've watched the movie numerous times. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go die of embarrassment." Rachel tried to stand up to leave, but Quinn laughed as she grabbed her arm and pulled her down so she was sitting again. "I can't believe I did that in front of you."

"It's fine," Quinn said, grinning. "I told you that you were entertaining."

"Well I hope to never be _that_ entertaining ever again," Rachel said, knowing she was still blushing. "Remind me to never drink again so I don't make a fool out of myself like that ever ever again."

"I make no promises," Quinn replied. "Believe me, though, it could have been worse."

Rachel scoffed. "How?"

"Oh, I don't know," Quinn replied, giving Rachel a look. "You could have gotten drunk, had sex, and ended up pregnant."

Rachel frowned. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Quinn replied. "I'm just putting things in perspective. There are more embarrassing things than singing a song and dancing—although using your bedpost like a stripper pole was probably a bit embarrassing."

Rachel groaned and hid her face again, causing Quinn to laugh. "I think my brain intentionally blocked this information out."

Both girls jumped as Sue's voice boomed out of her megaphone telling the Cheerios that practice was over. Rachel watched as most of the girls dragged themselves off the field, but Santana was heading directly for them.

"Did you ever find out what happened with the whole Brittany and Finn thing?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "Kurt called me several times yesterday, but I was just feeling too bad to bother answering the phone. I figured I would find out from him today, but it looks like I might find out sooner than that."

"What are you bitches doing out here?" Santana asked.

Rachel scowled. "Do you really have to use that kind of language?"

Santana shrugged and walked up the rest of the bleachers, sitting down a few feet away from Rachel. She didn't really look too angry or upset, so Rachel was hoping that nothing too bad had transpired at the dance.

"So—" Rachel said, looking at the Cheerio.

"What, Berry," Santana asked.

"How did things go with the dance," Rachel asked, knowing Santana would see right through her if she tried to beat around the bush.

"I went," Santana replied.

"And?" Rachel asked when it was clear the other girl wasn't going to elaborate.

"And Brittany and Finn were dancing together," Santana replied.

Rachel closed her eyes and took a deep breath, cursing Finn's stupidity. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, really," Santana said, shrugging. "Britt said they were just going as friends and I trust her even if Frankenteen looked like he had a lot more on his mind than friendship."

Rachel and Quinn quickly looked at each other, knowing there was no way Santana had left it at that. If Finn was showing any interest in Brittany, they both knew Santana would do something drastic.

"So, everything was okay then?" Rachel asked.

"I might have punched his doughy face when he walked out of the bathroom," Santana said, shrugging. "And I also might have told him he better keep his ginormous paws off of her if he valued certain parts of his body."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Way to go, S."

Rachel was actually impressed at Santana's restraint; she'd honestly expected a lot worse from her. "Did you and Brittany at least get to dance together?"

Quinn looked at Rachel with an unreadable expression. "Santana just told you that she just hit Finn in the face and _that's_ what you're worried about?"

Rachel shrugged. "What?"

"Nothing," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"So?" Rachel asked, looking at Santana.

"Not in the gym," Santana replied. "Britt found me in the hall near the end of the dance and we did have one dance together."

Rachel smiled. "Good."

"Whatever," Santana said, standing up, and walking off without another word.

"What?" Rachel asked, feeling Quinn's eyes on her.

Quinn bit her lip. "Why did you and Finn break up?"

"I just wasn't in love with him anymore," Rachel answered, shrugging.

Quinn nodded and was quiet for a few moments before asking, "So there wasn't any other reason?"

There were plenty of reasons, but none Rachel could talk about. "Does there need to be another?"

"No," Quinn replied. "I was just curious."

"Oh," Rachel said, not really knowing what else to say.

"Come on," Quinn said, standing up and holding her hand out for Rachel. "The bell's going to ring in a minute and we wouldn't want you to be late for first period."

Rachel took Quinn's hand and the blonde pulled her up; as soon as she was on her feet, Quinn dropped the brunette's hand and smiled at her. Rachel watched her walk down the bleachers, suddenly feeling like there was something she was forgetting, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Are you coming?" Quinn asked when she was about halfway down.

"Yeah," Rachel said, walking down to stand beside Quinn.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded and plastered a smile on her face. "I'm great."

* * *

><p>Rachel walked into the cafeteria, feeling nervous; her audition for West Side Story was later in the day, and while she knew she would nail it, she always got a bit nervous before she auditioned for anything. It actually got worse as she got older; maybe teenage Rachel Berry was just too naïve, but as she grew up, she started getting a little more jittery about these things. In New York, she was no longer the most talented person in the city but one of countless people trying to make it. Roles no longer just fell in her lap and she had to fight for them—hence the nerves.<p>

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked as soon as she sat down.

"I'm fine," Rachel replied. "Just a little nervous about my audition today, but I'm good."

"Don't be nervous," Kurt said, putting his hand over Rachel's fidgeting one. "You're going to nail it and you're going to get that role."

"Excuse me," Mercedes said rather loudly, looking down the table at them. "Some of us are just as talented, so don't act like Berry's a shoo-in just because she gets all the solos in Glee. This ain't Glee and maybe the rest of us will finally get our fair shot." Mercedes huffed, grabbed her tray, and left the table.

"She's a little touchy," Kurt commented as he watched her storm off.

"Where's Mercedes going?" Tina asked as her and Mike approached the table.

"We started talking about West Side Story and she got a little defensive," Kurt said, scratching at his neck.

"We all know Rachel's going to get the part," Tina said, looking at the brunette.

"That's very sweet, Tina, but Mercedes is very talented too," Rachel replied.

"Don't give that diva an even bigger head," Santana said, plopping down a few seats away from the rest of the group.

"She can't even hear me," Rachel replied.

"I was talking to Tina," Santana said, smirking.

Rachel huffed. "Very funny, Santana."

Brittany bounded over a few seconds later, sitting across from Santana. "Hey, guys!"

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde.

"What's going on?" Brittany asked, stealing Santana's pudding cup. Santana pouted at the action, but Rachel noticed she didn't say anything to the blonde and, after a moment, went on like it was nothing.

"Talking about Rachel's big head," Santana said, smirking again.

"Her head isn't that big," Brittany said, looking at Rachel.

Rachel rolled her eyes as everyone started laughing; the laughter quickly dissipated, though, as soon as Finn sat down at the table. Santana was glaring daggers at him and Rachel was just shifting uncomfortably at having him so close to her.

"Move down," Quinn said as she came up to the table and shoved Finn to the side.

"But I just sat down," Finn said, frowning.

"And now you're getting back up," Quinn replied, pushing him again.

Finn huffed and moved down a seat so he was sitting next to Santana. Neither of them looked very happy about it, but Rachel was relieved that he was no longer sitting next to her.

"You're welcome," Quinn whispered to her.

Rachel grinned and whispered back, "Thank you."

Santana scooted her tray across the table, walked around so she was sitting across from Rachel, and pulled Brittany over so she was sitting beside her.

"What is your problem with me?" Finn asked.

Santana scoffed. "Everything, but right now my problem is you smell like you haven't showed in days and it's making me want to throw up all over my salad. No wonder Berry dumped you."

"I don't need this," Finn yelled, causing several people to jump. "Not from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Santana yelled back, but Finn was already out of his seat and skulking across the cafeteria.

"That wasn't very nice," Brittany said, frowning at Santana.

Santana scoffed. "Whatever."

"While I in no way defend any of his recent actions, that was rather mean," Kurt agreed.

"Since when have I ever been nice to the Giant?" Santana asked.

"Wasn't punching him in the face enough?" Mike asked.

"Since when did everyone suddenly start caring about _him_?" Santana asked, looking at the rest of the Glee members sitting at the table.

"Well I definitely don't care about him," Quinn said, shrugging, and earning a small chuckle from Rachel.

"What?" Rachel asked when Quinn gave her a strange look.

"I'm not saying I necessarily care about Finn, but what you said _was_ kind of mean," Tina spoke up. "I know you're probably mad at him for—reasons—but we are still a team and we need to get along and work together."

Santana narrowed her eyes at Tina but otherwise ignored the comment.

Rachel sighed and stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to the auditorium to practice."

She didn't really need to practice; she'd been perfecting her song for the past two weeks, but she did want to get away from the bickering. She couldn't really blame Santana's hatred of Finn, but she did feel kind of bad for him sometimes.

"Hey."

Rachel turned around to find Quinn jogging after her. "Did I forget something in the cafeteria?" Rachel looked down to make sure she had her bag with her since she couldn't think of another reason for Quinn to be running after her.

"No," Quinn said, laughing lightly. "I was just wondering if I could watch you rehearse."

"You want to watch me rehearse?" Rachel repeated, getting a nod from Quinn. "Sure."

Quinn smiled at Rachel and fell in stride with her. "What song are you singing for the audition?"

"Somewhere," Rachel replied. "I thought it would adequately show off my vocal range." Rachel walked down the hall for a moment before asking, "Did you ever decide whether you were going to audition?"

Quinn nodded. "I actually auditioned yesterday."

"Really? Why didn't you say anything? How did it go?" Rachel excitedly asked.

Quinn laughed. "I think it went well; I'm not exactly looking for a huge role like you are, but I think it could be fun to do. Everyone knows how much I love to act—I've had enough practice at it, anyway."

"You'll get it and you'll be wonderful," Rachel said beaming at the other girl.

Quinn opened the door to the auditorium and motioned for Rachel to go in. "Let's hope."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rachel walked down the hall, and even though she hadn't been slushied this year, she still dodged one of the football players out of habit. She was early for school so only a few other students were milling about in the halls; it was one of the few times school seemed peaceful and it was always something she enjoyed.<p>

Rachel was walking toward the choir room but stopped moving when she heard the sound of someone playing the piano in the room. She really hadn't thought of the possibility of anyone else being here this early. After quietly walking the rest of the way to the room, she did her best to open the door without alerting anyone to her presence. When she walked in, Quinn was sitting at the piano, with her back to the door.

She couldn't help but watch her for a few minutes; she had only heard Quinn play the piano a few times, but she was amazing at it, and Rachel never understood why she didn't play it more often. Eventually, though, Rachel started feeling like she was intruding and cleared her throat. Quinn immediately stopped playing and turned around to look at the brunette.

"I should have known it was you," Quinn said, smiling as she turned back around. "Who else would be in the choir room this early?"

"What are you doing here so early?" Rachel wondered.

Quinn shrugged and put her fingers back on the keys, playing a few notes before turning around and facing Rachel again. "It was raining out."

Rachel nodded. "And you didn't want to get soaked before school."

"Not really," Quinn said, scrunching her face.

"Can I ask you a question?" Rachel asked.

"Sure," Quinn replied.

Rachel walked to the piano bench and Quinn shifted over so Rachel could sit with her. "Why don't you play more? I mean, Finn is always playing the drums and Puck often plays his guitar, but you never play the piano in Glee. And you're better than either of them."

"Honestly?" Quinn asked and Rachel gave her a nod. "My father insisted I learn to play growing up; at first I loved it, but he put so much pressure on me to be perfect that I actually started hating it. After he kicked me out of my home—I just stopped playing. I didn't really see the point anymore."

"You could do it for yourself," Rachel quietly said.

"Can you play?" Quinn asked, playing a few notes.

Rachel shook her head. "I took some classes when I was younger, but I wasn't very good."

"So you quit?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah," Rachel replied. "I didn't want to take away focus from my singing and dancing, so my fathers agreed with me that my efforts would be better focused elsewhere. Sometimes, though, I wish I had stuck with it."

"Well, it's never too late to learn," Quinn said, smiling.

"Maybe you can teach me some day," Rachel suggested.

Rachel watched Quinn, who seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. She shook her head after a few seconds, though, and nodded. "How did your audition go yesterday?"

"It went very well," Rachel said, intently watching the other girl. "Mercedes did amazing, though."

"You'll get it," Quinn stated.

"How do you know?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged and removed her fingers from the keys. "I just do."

"At least someone believes in me," Rachel said, smiling to herself. "So—do you know any good songs?"

"Meaning songs you can sing?" Quinn asked.

"You know me well," Rachel replied.

"Well, I mostly know classical music, but I do know one of my favorite songs," Quinn said, putting her hands back on the keys and starting to play again.

Rachel listened intently, but frowned, not knowing what the song was. "What song is that?"

"_You light the skies, up above me," _Quinn sang, blushing. _"A star, so bright, you blind me, yeah. Don't close your eyes, don't fade away, don't fade away." _Quinn stopped singing for moment to say, "You know, this was a rather embarrassing song to sing."

Rachel laughed. "It's fine—don't stop."

Quinn smiled faintly and continued. _"Oh yeah you and me we can ride on a star, if you stay with me girl, we can rule the world. Yeah you and me we can light up the sky, if you stay by my side, we can rule the world."_

Quinn took a deep breath and Rachel asked, "So this is one of your favorite songs?"

Quinn nodded. _"If walls break down, I will comfort you. If angels cry, oh I'll be there for you. You've saved my soul. Don't leave me now, don't leave me now."_

"I take it you don't know it?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "I've never heard it."

"_Oh all the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight. For you, for you."_ Quinn looked at Rachel but continued playing and singing. _"All the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight. For you, for you. Yeah you and me we can ride on a star, if you stay with me girl, we can rule the world. Yeah you and me, we can light up the sky, if you stay by my side, we can rule the world."_ Quinn started smiling and singing a bit louder. _"All the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight. For you, for you. .All the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight. For you, for you."_

Quinn was still blushing lightly when she finished but Rachel just laughed, and grabbed her right hand. "Don't be embarrassed; it was just a song. A rather good one too."

"You liked it?" Quinn mumbled.

"The song is talking about stars, of course I liked it," Rachel joked. "I really did love it, though; it's a lovely song, you have a lovely voice, and you should really play the piano more because you're amazing at it."

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, blushing more.

"Yeah," Rachel said, smiling.

Rachel looked down and realized she was still holding Quinn's hand. She frowned as she looked at their entwined fingers; just like on Monday, holding Quinn's hand felt oddly familiar and she couldn't figure out why.

"Why—" Rachel bit her lip.

"Why what?" Quinn asked when it was obvious Rachel wasn't going to continue.

"Why does this feel so familiar?" Rachel asked. "Holding your hand."

Quinn cleared her throat and looked away. "Well—you are a rather affectionate drunk."

"Oh no," Rachel said, groaning. "Please tell me I didn't do anything too bad."

"No," Quinn said, laughing, and shaking her head. "You were just kind of—cuddly."

Rachel groaned again, feeling slightly mortified that she might have tried something Quinn, although she didn't know why she would have. "I didn't try anything else, did I?"

"No, you were very PG." Quinn paused for a moment and then quirked her eyebrow. "Why would you think you would have tried something?"

"I don't know," Rachel said quietly. "I've been told I'm a very clingy drunk and that I tend to get overly friendly with people—including people I don't even know."

"You say that like you drink a lot," Quinn said, looking at Rachel with an amused expression.

"I just meant the few times I've done it," Rachel quickly said. "There haven't been that many."

It wasn't quite a lie; this body had only been drunk a few times, even if she had the memory of many more times. And it wasn't like she did it _that_ much when she was older; just a few times in college and several times more recently with Kurt. When she was still married to Finn, she avoided drinking since she was clingy and Finn easily got jealous. When she was still at NYADA, she was dancing with one of her very good—and very gay—guy friends, but Finn had gotten jealous and threw several punches before the other partygoers subdued him. Rachel avoided it after that, until the divorce, and then Kurt thought she needed to make up for lost time.

"So—does that mean you're not opposed to doing it again?" Quinn asked.

"No," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded. "I'll keep that in mind; maybe we can hang out again."

"Quinn Fabray, are you implying that you can only see me after school if you're drinking?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well it does certainly help," Quinn replied, not quite being able to contain her grin.

"That's not very nice," Rachel said, glaring at her.

"I was just kidding," Quinn said, shaking her head and smiling. "You are very tolerable even without the drinking."

"Only tolerable, huh?" Rachel asked, smiling back.

The first bell finally rang and Rachel reluctantly stood up, letting go of Quinn's hand, which she realized she was _still _holding. She was finding herself enjoying her time with Quinn more and more, and she hated that it was always being cut short. The other girl had always been such an enigma to her, and no matter what she did in the past, Quinn had always dismissed her offers of friendship. She didn't know if she just happened to be at the right place, at the right time, but for the first time ever, Quinn was finally opening up to her and Rachel was finally seeing the girl that she always suspected was underneath the cold surface.

"I'll see you in class," Rachel said before walking to the door.

"Maybe a little more than tolerable," Rachel heard Quinn say just as she was leaving the room, causing Rachel to smile to herself as she walked down the hall.

* * *

><p>"You got it!" Brittany said excitedly to Santana.<p>

"Was there ever any doubt?" Santana asked with a smug look on her face. "And look at that, Berry."

"What?" Rachel asked, quickly walking up to scan the cast list.

_Maria...Rachel Berry & __Mercedes Jones  
><em>_Tony...Blaine Anderson & __Finn Hudson  
><em>_Anita...Santana Lopez  
><em>_Riff...Mike Chang  
><em>_Officer Krupke...Kurt Hummel_

"I can't believe they double casted you," Santana said, smirking.

"I told them to," Rachel stated.

Santana gave her an incredulous look. "You what?"

"Mercedes and I were equally excellent and I thought we both deserved a chance at the role," Rachel replied.

That and Rachel didn't want to drive Mercedes away again. Even though Shelby wasn't around, it didn't mean that Mercedes still wouldn't quit New Directions and Rachel didn't want to go through that again. Plus, Mercedes did do very well and Rachel was fine with sharing the spotlight. At least for a little bit.

What she couldn't believe was that Blaine was now sharing the role with Finn.

"Who did Blubber sleep with to get that role," Santana said, scowling.

"That's what I was wondering," Rachel said, frowning at the sheet of paper.

Santana laughed. "Wow, Berry, you actually insulted someone."

"Actually, you insulted him, I just agreed with it," Rachel corrected.

"I wonder which of you is going to be paired with him," Santana said, raising her eyebrows.

"Surely they will put me with Blaine," Rachel said, not feeling very certain of it. "I mean—right? They know Finn and I broke up so surely they wouldn't do that to us."

"If I were you, I would get used to the idea of kissing Poppin' Fresh again," Santana said, not looking at all concerned about it. "Now if you'll excuse me, Britts and me have somewhere to be."

"And where is that?" Rachel asked as Santana and Brittany walked away; Santana looked back at her and quirked her eyebrow, giving Rachel the only answer she needed. "Yeah, okay, never mind."

"It looks like you got it," Quinn said quietly from behind Rachel.

Rachel turned around and smiled. "You say that like you doubted me."

"Never." Quinn gently laughed and shook her head at the brunette. "Are you okay with sharing the role?"

"Yeah," Rachel answered. "I was the one that brought it up with them; Mercedes was excellent and I felt like we both deserved the opportunity to be on that stage."

Quinn nodded. "And Finn and Blaine?"

"Yeah, I don't know how that one happened," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "Blaine was far superior; everyone knows Finn cannot dance or learn lines." Rachel shook her head and both girls started walking for the front door; the last bell rang over ten minutes ago so almost everyone had already left the building. "It's going to be a disaster and I just hope that I am the one staring opposite Blaine so I don't have to have to worry about anyone but myself."

"So, do you have anything planned this weekend?" Quinn asked as she approached the front exit.

"I am spending it with my fathers," Rachel replied, sighing as she opened the front door and stepped out into the fresh air.

It wasn't that she didn't love her fathers—quite the opposite—but she was used to being independent and it was weird having them around all the time. They had both been slightly over attentive since she told them of her breakup with Finn and it was starting to annoy her a bit. She was used to only seeing them once, maybe twice a year, so the sudden attention from them was a bit overwhelming at times.

"That sounds—fun?" Quinn said, questioningly.

"They've been worried about me," Rachel admitted.

"Because of you and Finn?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shrugged. "Not really just that; they keep making comments about how I haven't been acting like myself, but yes, also because of the breakup. I keep telling them I'm fine and that it was my idea, but they still seem worried about me, but that's just how they've always been."

"They're right, you know," Quinn said

Rachel frowned. "About what?"

"You not acting like yourself," Quinn stated.

Rachel knew they were right; of course she wasn't acting like herself, but instead she just asked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know exactly," Quinn said, smiling shyly. "There is just something about you that's changed. Well, I guess there's a lot of somethings about you that has changed. For starters, you speak differently; not a huge difference, but you definitely do. You carry yourself differently, like you're more comfortable in your skin or something. And you're just—I don't know. It's hard to explain, but you _are_ different."

"Are you saying you like the new me better?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "I like both versions of you."

"You never seemed to like the old version very much before," Rachel stated.

"I did," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I was just too big of a bitch to admit it."

"So, what do _you_ have planned for this weekend?" Rachel asked, stopping by Quinn's car before she headed for her own.

Quinn shrugged at the question and pulled her keys from her bag. "I'll probably catch up on some reading."

"That's sounds very exciting," Rachel joked.

Quinn hummed and quirked her eyebrow. "It depends on the book."

Rachel's breath hitched at the look in Quinn's eyes and she frowned at the action. "Umm, yeah." Rachel awkwardly looked around for a moment before giving Quinn a small smile. "I guess I'll see you Monday?"

"Yeah," Quinn said, opening her door. "Have fun this weekend."

"You too," Rachel said, turning to walk away.

_What the _hell_ was that?_

When Rachel got to her car, she sat inside for a few minutes, watching as Quinn pulled out of the parking lot; once she was gone, Rachel finally started her car and left as well.

* * *

><p><strong>The song that Quinn was singing was Rule the World by Take That. <strong>

**To everyone that has mentioned it...you'll finally find out in the next chapter what Puck wanted to talk about.**

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	7. When It All Falls Apart

**Sorry this took so long. I kind of got stuck on one part, so that held me up, and it's getting toward the end of the semester so everything is piling up right now. So, right now I cannot guarantee an update every week like I normally do. The next four weeks are going to be hectic, but I'll do my best to write in my spare time. The only reason this is up now is because I'm about to beat my head against a wall over my java homework and I needed a break. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 – When It All Falls Apart<strong>

Rachel was staring at Quinn with her mouth slightly hanging open; she was paused midway up the bleachers, with one leg on the step above.

"Hey," Quinn said, sounding shy.

"You dyed your hair back!" Rachel said, still looking at Quinn like she had grown a second head or something.

"Didn't take you long to notice," Quinn said, grinning.

"Of course," Rachel said, scoffing, and finally walking up the rest of the bleachers to Quinn. "Although the pink hair did grow on me."

Rachel played with the end of Quinn's hair before running her hand through it; Quinn shuddered slightly at the touch and Rachel looked at her questioningly.

"Are you chilly?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "A bit, I guess."

"Here." Rachel started pulling her cardigan off, but Quinn put her hand on Rachel's arm to stop her.

"It's fine, Rach," Quinn said.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist," Rachel said, pulling the garment off and handing it over for Quinn to take. "Please?"

Quinn sighed and slipped it on. "Thanks."

"You are very welcome," Rachel said, beaming at her,

"So, how did rehearsals go Friday?" Quinn asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Mercedes is _still_ being difficult; she wants to be paired up with Blaine since Finn keeps stepping on her toes and can barely remember two lines. She doesn't seem to care that it would be awkward for everyone if he and I were to star opposite one another."

After some initial resistance, Mercedes had agreed to the double casting. Rachel had anticipated some resistance and was glad when she eventually went along with it. Things were less tense between Mercedes and the rest of the group, mostly because Rachel was always trying to play mediator and be more supportive. She suspected it was the only reason Mercedes agreed to the double casting this time around.

"They're not actually going to put you with him, are they?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shrugged, sighing. "They haven't told us yet; I all but begged them not to, though." Rachel smiled. "Just be glad the rest of you haven't been at rehearsals yet; it's a bit of a mess right now. Mercedes is whining about Finn, Finn is whining about everything, and Santana is just yelling at both of them and pacing around, muttering in Spanish."

Quinn laughed. "That sounds about right. Oh, hey." Quinn nudged Rachel's leg with hers. "I meant to ask before, but are you going to Puck's Halloween party tonight?"

"I haven't decided," Rachel said, frowning. "The last time I went to his party—well, let's just say that I didn't have the greatest time."

_Understatement of the century._

"Why not?" Quinn asked. "Did something happen?"

_You died._

"Not exactly," Rachel lied, shrugging. "Are you going?"

"I am," Quinn said, smiling

"What are you going as?" Rachel wondered.

Quinn smirked at her. "If you want to find out, you're going to have to come tonight and see for yourself."

"Not fair," Rachel said, huffing.

Quinn laughed at her, shaking her head. "I promise to make sure you have a good time."

"I don't know," Rachel said.

"Do you doubt me?" Quinn asked, nudging her shoulder into Rachel's.

"No! I just—" Rachel sighed. "I'll think about it, okay?"

Quinn nodded. "Okay; as long as the answer is 'yes' in the end."

Quinn was grinning at her and Rachel just rolled her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Nice costume, Berry," Santana said, smirking at her.<p>

Rachel narrowed her eyes, not knowing whether or not Santana was mocking her costume or actually being sincere. It was Santana, though, so she was leaning toward the former.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Relax, Shorty." Santana put her arm around Rachel's shoulders and lightly squeezed her. "I meant it; you look good."

"Thanks," Rachel said, lightly blushing. "Am I early?" Rachel looked around and frowned. "There's almost no one here."

"There's no alcohol," Santana stated.

Rachel looked alarmed. "This is _Noah's_ party, right?"

"He said no alcohol," Santana said, shrugging. "As soon as people found out, they bailed, so it's mostly just us Glee losers."

"Have you seen Quinn?" Rachel asked.

Santana smirked as she watched Rachel look around for the other girl. "Why do you ask?"

Rachel shrugged and looked at Santana. "She's the one who talked me into coming."

"Interesting," Santana mumbled.

"What?" Rachel asked, not being able to tell what she said.

"Nothing," Santana said and Rachel noticed she was getting that evil glint in her eyes. "Look who's here—it's Finnept!"

Rachel turned toward the door and sighed. "Great."

"She's in the backyard," Santana said, glancing at Rachel before training her eyes back on the giant. "What's up doughboy?"

"Don't call me that!" Finn said, huffing.

"Thanks," Rachel said, making a hasty retreat.

Rachel walked through the party and noticed that Santana was right; the only people she saw were the other students in Glee. Rachel was fine with that, though, since we didn't really like huge parties full of people she didn't know and jocks that had picked on her for years. As she passed through the kitchen, Tina smile and waved at her and Rachel gave her a smile back. When she opened the back door, she shivered slightly as the cold air hit her. Quinn was sitting on the ground, with her knees up and her arms wrapped around them, starring up at the sky.

"See anything interesting?" Rachel asked, smiling at the her.

"Plenty," Quinn replied, smiling as well, but never taking her eyes off the sky. "So, I see you came."

"I did," Rachel replied, walking toward her.

"I didn't know if you would," Quinn said, turning to look at Rachel.

Rachel shrugged. "I figured there were worse ways to spend my night." Rachel tilted her head, studying the blonde. "So, what are you?"

Quinn smiled and stood up; she was wearing a white dress and had a leather jacket over it. Rachel just looked at her questioningly and Quinn scoffed. "Seriously?"

"I have no idea what you are," Rachel admitted shaking her head.

Quinn reached into the jacket and pulled out a pointy piece of wood. "Now?"

"I still have no idea," Rachel said, shaking her head again. "Do other people know?"

"Of course," Quinn replied. "Kurt and Tina nearly had coronaries when I walked in." Rachel scrunched up her face and shrugged, causing Quinn to sigh. "I'm Buffy."

Rachel nodded. "Ohh—I've never seen it."

Quinn frowned. "That's it, this friendship is officially over."

"Oh come on," Rachel said, laughing.

"No," Quinn said, turning to walk away.

Rachel grabbed Quinn's arm and pulled her back. "I'll start watching it this weekend, okay? Will that make you feel better"

Quinn smirked. "Okay."

"You're ridiculous," Rachel said rolling her eyes.

Quinn shrugged and sat back down on the grass. "Do you want to sit with me?"

"Sure," Rachel said, sitting down next to Quinn. "So, why are you out here and not in there with your friends?"

"It's peaceful out here," Quinn replied. "Sometimes I just don't really want to be around people."

"Does that mean you want me to go?" Rachel asked.

"If I wanted you to go, I wouldn't have asked you to join me," Quinn stated.

Rachel stayed silent for a few minutes, just enjoying sitting next to Quinn and looking at the stars. After a short while, though, she started shivering from the cold and Quinn stood up, offering her hand to Rachel.

"Come on," Quinn said, pulling Rachel to her feet. "Let's get you inside before you freeze to death."

The two walked into the kitchen where Tina was now talking with Kurt. He was talking very animatedly, but Tina was shaking her head and looking rather frazzled by whatever he was talking about. As soon as he saw Quinn and Rachel, he stopped talking to Tina and instantly smiled at the two.

"Hey!" he greeted, jumping off the counter as soon as he noticed Rachel come into the kitchen. "I thought you decided not to come, but then Brittany told me you were here. I was about to come look for you."

"Yeah, I decided I really didn't have anything better to do tonight," Rachel said with a smile.

"Come on," Kurt said, holding his arm out for Rachel to take. "Tina is being a spoilsport and won't play Truth or Dare with the rest of us, but now you can join us."

"Oh no," Rachel said, pulling her arm away. "No, no."

Kurt put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes at her. "Why not?"

"Because no good can come from that," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Truth or Dare with Puck and Santana? Have you lost your mind?"

"That's what I said," Tina said, eyeing Kurt.

"Oh, it won't be that bad," Kurt said, grabbing for her arm again. "You are both overreacting; it will be fun and a good bonding experience for the club."

"I think we've bonded enough," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Please, please, please," Kurt said, looking at her pathetically.

Rachel sighed, looked at Tina, and then locked eyes with Quinn. "I'll only do it if everyone else does it."

"Yay!" Kurt said, clapping. "Come on, you three."

"I did not agree to this," Tina said, but Kurt grabbed her with his other hand, ignoring her protests and pulled her and Rachel along. Rachel pulled her arm away, ran back to grab Quinn, and pulled her along, following Kurt into the living room.

"I don't believe I agreed to this, either," Quinn stated, but followed Rachel nonetheless.

"Okay, now that we're all here, we can start," Kurt said, sitting next to Blaine. "Who wants to start?"

"I will," Santana instantly said.

Everyone groaned but no one said anything, mostly because they knew she would get her way and they didn't want to be her first target. Tina sighed and sat down next to Mike, while Quinn and Rachel sat down on the loveseat. Puck, in his pirate costume, was already taking up half of the loveseat, so Quinn perched on the arm of it while Rachel took the seat next to Puck.

"Finn," Santana said, smirking. "Truth or dare?"

"Uhh." Finn was sitting there, looking torn.

"Pick truth," Rachel whispered, willing the boy to make it easier on himself. No question Santana came up with would ever be as bad as any dare.

"Dare," Finn said and Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I dare you to kiss Puck," Santana said.

Finn laughed, but abruptly quit when he saw the look on Santana's face. "You're joking."

"Do look like I'm joking?" Santana asked.

"I am not kissing Puck," Finn said, scowling.

"Yeah, seriously," Puck said, shaking his head. "I'm all cool with the gays and shit, but I am not kissing _him_."

"That's because you have better taste than that," Santana said.

Finn looked like he was thinking for a moment and then frowned. "Hey!"

"Come on, so the next person can go," Santana said, clapping her hands.

"No," Finn said, crossing his arms. "Pick something else."

"Fine, I dare you to kiss Kurt, then," Santana said, shrugging.

"That's my brother!" Finn said, gesturing toward the other boy.

"Pick one," Santana said.

The rest of the Glee members in the room were looking between Santana and Finn like there was an interesting tennis match going on. Finn was silently fuming and Santana had an eyebrow raised, daring him to say something else. It was obvious that Finn was going to lose this round and everyone was just waiting for him to crack.

"Fine," Finn eventually said, huffing. "Sorry dude."

Puck sighed. "Make it quick."

"On the lips," Santana said.

Finn walked over to where Puck was sitting and leaned down; he looked like he was having an internal debate for moment, but then he gave Puck a quick peck on the lips and nearly flew across the room.

"Lame," Santana said, sounding bored.

"Brittany," Finn said, turning toward the blonde. "Truth or dare."

"What the hell is he thinking?" Quinn whispered to Rachel.

"Maybe that he doesn't like his balls where they are?" Rachel whispered back.

"Dare!" Brittany said, nearly bouncing in her seat.

Finn was about to say something, but then he looked at Santana for a moment; she looked like she was ready to lunge across the room and strangle him, which seemed to make him think better about whatever he had originally planned. "Umm, I dare you to—" He looked back to Santana and then shifted his eyes. "Dance to Baby Got Back."

"Awesome," Brittany said.

"Wuss," Puck said, shaking his head.

Everyone watched as Brittany found the song on Artie's iPod and then proceeded to dance—and sing—to the song. When the song ended, she actually looked disappointed that her dare was over, and went to sit back down next to Santana.

Brittany smiled. "Rachel! Truth or dare?"

"Why me?" Rachel asked, but Santana scowled at her, so she sighed and looked back to Brittany. "Dare."

"I dare you to rap in Glee tomorrow," Brittany said.

"Fine," Rachel agreed, knowing that Santana would make her do it. This made Kurt snort, but tried to pass it off as a cough; Rachel heard it, though, and narrowed her eyes at him. "Kurt," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Kurt said, looking smug.

"Who was your first crush?" Rachel said, biting her cheek.

Kurt's face reddened for a moment and then he mumbled, "Ernie."

"What was that?" Rachel asked. "I couldn't quite hear you."

"Did you say Artie?" Artie asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Kurt huffed. "I said Ernie."

"Who is Ernie?" Tina asked.

"From Sesame Street," Kurt said, causing everyone else in the room to laugh. "Give me a break; I was three at the time."

"That's so cute," Blaine said, kissing his cheek.

"I think I'm going to go," Quinn whispered to Rachel, before getting up and walking toward the door.

Rachel quickly scrambled off the loveseat and followed Quinn. "Why are you leaving so soon?"

"Honestly, I'd rather not be around when these people really get into the game," Quinn replied. "I know this is only just the beginning, and knowing Santana, it's not going to be pretty."

"Good point," Rachel said, frowning. "Maybe I should skip out too."

"That might be wise," Quinn said, nodding.

The two quietly slipped out the door, unnoticed by anyone else. They started walking toward their cars, which were parked right next to each other.

"By the way," Quinn said, looking at Rachel as she walked beside her. "I like your costume."

"Thanks, I'm—"

"Kahlan Amnell." Quinn finished. "It's one of my favorite shows—and books."

"I didn't know you were such a fantasy nerd," Rachel said, smiling. "I guess I learn something new about you every day."

"I guess so," Quinn said, stopping beside Rachel's car. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Quinn," Rachel said, giving her a small smile. "Drive safe."

"See you tomorrow, Berry," Quinn said before climbing into her car.

* * *

><p>Everyone was sitting in stunned silence when Mercedes finally said, "She sounded like a dying cat."<p>

"I find that insulting to dying cats," Kurt said, shaking his head.

While everyone else looked equal parts shocked and horrified, Rachel sat there with a stoic face. She could feel half the people in room looking at her, clearly interested in seeing what she had to say. She shook her head and sighed, knowing what she had to do.

"We've always let everyone in, so I guess she joins us," Rachel said, causing a few people to scoff.

"Seriously, Berry?" Santana said, scowling at her. "You'd do anything to win and you're willing to let her in?"

She didn't want to let her in, but Rachel knew she really didn't have much choice. The day before, Sugar Motta had been walking past the choir room when Rachel was going her dare and rapping to Parents Just Don't Understand. She had apparently thought the group could use her expert singing and dancing skills and decided to audition. She came in this afternoon and sang Big Spender, and it was even worse than Rachel remembered.

"She can't sing and she can't dance," Kurt stated.

"Come on guys!" Mr. Schue said. "Rachel is right; we always let everyone in and we're not going to stop now just because she's—"

"Terrible?" Kurt supplied.

"Just because she could use a little work," Mr. Schue finished. "With a little time and energy, I'm sure she will be a perfectly fine singer and dancer."

Santana laughed. "Time hasn't helped Finnept learn to dance. He still lumbers around, stepping on everyone toes with his crazy monster feet, making the rest of us look bad."

"You know what Santana—"

"Guys!" Rachel said, jumping out of her seat and throwing her hands up. "Now isn't the time to start fighting. Sectionals are only six weeks away and if we keep fighting like this, we're never going to win. Sugar is going to join us because we never turn people away; it's not what we're about."

Several of the other kids nodded and Rachel almost even convinced herself that she was speaking the truth. Santana and Quinn were both looking at her with their eyebrows raising, Kurt and Mercedes were looking at her like she had grown a second head, and Puck was eyeing her suspiciously, but the rest of the group seemed to agree with her. Rachel sat back down and shifted in her seat as several people continued staring at her throughout the rest of Glee. When Mr. Schue finally dismissed them, Rachel was more than ready to get out of the room.

"Let's talk, Berry," Santana said as soon as she caught up to Rachel in the hall.

"What about?" Rachel asked as Santana pulled her into the nearest bathroom.

"What is going on with you?" Santana asked as soon as she slammed the door behind her. "This is the girl you had me slushy and now you're suddenly okay with her joining Glee?"

"I thought you got someone else to slushy her," Rachel said.

"Whatever," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "The point is, it happened because of you. Why is this girl so important?"

Rachel sighed. "She's not, okay? I had my reasons for the slushy incident and I'm not proud of it, but it had to be done."

"But why let her in Glee?" Santana asked. "I know you better than that; you don't want her in any more than the rest of us do, so why did you lie to everyone with that 'we let everyone in' crap?"

"We do let everyone in," Rachel stated.

"You and I both know we shouldn't," Santana replied.

Rachel crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, opposite the door, which Santana had her back pressed up against. She didn't really know what to tell them other girl; Santana always seemed to be able to see right through people when they lied.

"You shouldn't be so mean to Finn," Rachel finally said, ignoring Santana's previous statement.

Santana rolled her eyes again. "Why not? Tell me you aren't getting back together with him, because if you do, I think I might throw up."

"It's nothing like that," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Then what is it?" Santana asked.

"I think it's really starting to make him mad and I'm worried he's going to do something stupid," Rachel admitted. "Just—please lay off a bit. At least for right now."

"I make no promises," Santana replied. "And he does stupid stuff every day; how would this be any different?"

Rachel sighed. "Can you just trust me and not ask questions?"

"No," Santana said, crossing her arms. "Has he done something to you before?"

"No!" Rachel said, shaking her head. "It's nothing like that."

"Good," Santana replied. "I really didn't feel like having to kick his ass tomorrow."

Rachel couldn't help but smile. "You almost sound concerned about me."

"Shut up, Berry," Santana said, scowling at her. "I'm not concerned about anything. It would just be a good reason to kick his ass, which I'm totally about."

"Then why did you just say you didn't feel like having to do it?" Rachel asked.

Santana opened her mouth several times and then put her hand on the doorknob. "I'm leaving."

Rachel smiled. "See you tomorrow, Santana."

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said, throwing her hand up as she opened the door and walked away.

* * *

><p>"Can I talk to you?"<p>

Rachel locked up from her locker and Finn was hovering above her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Can you call Santana off?" Finn asked.

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"I know you're the reason she's been on me so much lately," Finn said, lifting his backpack up higher onto his shoulder. "She keeps saying all this crap to me and I really thought you were better than that. You're always talking about being fair to people and stuff and then you just have Santana do all your dirty work."

"Finn." Rachel sighed and rubbed her temples. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't tell Santana to do anything; you're being paranoid."

"Then why does she keep calling me all these names?" Finn asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "She's always done that; I didn't tell her to do anything. Do you know me at all? How can you even think I would get Santana to do that?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Finn said, stepping closer to Rachel, who took a step back. "She's just driving me crazy and I didn't mean what I said. I know you would never do anything like that."

"It's fine," Rachel said, shaking her head, hoping that Finn would just go away.

"Can I make it up to you?" Finn asked. "Let me take you to dinner tonight."

"I'm busy, Finn," Rachel lied.

"Come on," Finn begged. "You said you want to be friends, so let's be friends."

"Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you only want to be friends and nothing more?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Finn said, not actually looking her in the eye.

"I didn't think so," Rachel said, turning to look into her locker again.

"Come on!" Finn pleaded.

Rachel sighed and then took a deep breath. "No, Finn."

"Well, can you at least ask Santana to be nicer to me," Finn asked. "I don't know what I ever did to her."

"Newsflash, doughboy—I just don't like you," Santana said. Rachel looked around Finn and saw that Santana was standing right behind him and probably had been standing there the whole time. "Not only did she not tell me to harass you, Berry asked me to lay off your sorry ass. She's right; do you know her at all? As someone who claimed to love her, you sure as hell don't know a damn thing about her. She is much better off without you and the quicker you learn that, the better. You really need to stop acting like you're god's gift to mankind and realize that not everyone falls for your 'I'm just a simple, sweet, boy' act. You were a terrible boyfriend to Berry and Quinn. You're a selfish ass that only cares about yourself; you just pretend to care about others and then you treat them like crap."

Rachel's jaw had dropped somewhere during the middle of Santana's little speech. She was torn between admonishing the girl for being so mean to Finn—even if part of her agreed—and being happy that Santana had actually stuck up for her.

"You're one to talk," Finn said, and Rachel could see the anger in his eyes. "You may think I'm an ass, but you're the biggest bitch in this school. At least people have loved me; that's why you're such a bitch to me, isn't it? You're jealous because you want someone that is never going to want you back."

"Finn!" Rachel yelled, hoping to shut the boy up.

"You want Brittany and it's killing you that she doesn't want you back," Finn continued, completely ignoring Rachel.

Rachel grimaced and looked around the hall to see that half the students had stopped to listen to Finn and Santana's spat. She wanted to stop Finn, but it was too late; the damage was already done.

"She went with me to the homecoming dance, not you," Finn said, glaring at Santana, who was unusually quiet. "You love someone that doesn't love you and that's why you're so angry at the world, but stop taking it out on me."

Finn stalked away and Rachel stared at Santana, who was staring at the ground. She was torn between pulling Santana into a hug and following Finn to punch him. She opted for the former, though, and walked toward Santana.

"I swear, Berry, if you hug me, you'll lose an arm," Santana said, stopping Rachel in her tracks.

Rachel sighed. "Santana, don't listen to a word he said. You know Brittany loves you and he was just trying to hurt you."

Santana nodded, but Rachel could see tears in her eyes as she looked around the hall in a panic. Several people were still staring at her, so Santana did as she normally did—she ran.

Rachel wanted to run after her, but thought it might not be the wisest decision at the moment. She knew Santana would want to be alone, but Rachel knew she probably shouldn't be, so she went in search of Brittany. What Santana needed right now was reassurance and the blonde Cheerio was the only one who could give it to her. It took her a few minutes, but she finally found Brittany near the choir room.

"Brittany, you need to go find Santana right now," Rachel said the moment she was close enough for the blonde to hear.

Brittany frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Please, just trust me," Rachel pleaded. "She looked like she was walking toward the exit, so I don't know where she would be."

Brittany nodded and walked away without another word.

* * *

><p>"How is Santana doing?" Rachel asked Brittany the moment she walked into Glee the next day. Santana didn't show up for school and Rachel had been worried about her all day.<p>

Brittany shrugged. "She told me what happened, but she won't talk to me. She says she's fine, but I can tell how sad she is. I tried telling her that Finn was wrong, but I don't know if she believes me."

"She does," Rachel assured her. "Deep down, she knows you love her; she's just scared."

"I know, but I keep telling her there's nothing to be afraid of," Brittany said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Just keep trying," Rachel said.

Brittany smiled sadly. "Always."

When Finn walked in, Rachel started scowling at him, hoping he wasn't stupid enough to come over and talk to her. As soon as he saw her, though, he started walking in her direction.

"Hey, Rachel," Finn said, looking at the ground. "Can we talk?"

Rachel scoffed. "No."

"Please?" he asked, glancing up.

"I have nothing to say to you," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

Finn sighed. "Listen, I'm really sorry about yesterday."

"Did you hear me?" Rachel asked. "I said that I have nothing to say to you. Take a hint and go away right now."

"But—"

"Dude," Puck said, pulling Finn away by his arm. "Leave her alone. If she doesn't want to talk to you, she doesn't want to talk to you. And I heard what you did to Santana; not cool, dude."

"It was an accident," Finn said, pulling his arm away.

Puck shook his head. "An accident? An accident is when you knock a girl up; what you did was not an accident."

Finn huffed and sat in the back corner, as far away as he could possible get. Not long after, the rest of Glee started filing in, including Rory Flanagan. Rachel sighed when she saw him; this week was not going well. Actually, this week was undoing a lot of the hard work she had done to change things, and the more she thought about it, the more tears threatened to come to her eyes. Before she could openly start crying, though, she quickly left the room, walked down the hall, and entered the girl's bathroom.

She stood at the sink for a while, taking deep breaths, when she heard the door open behind her. When she looked up, she saw the last person she was expecting to see.

"This is the girl's bathroom, Noah," she said to him.

"How can I help?" he asked, unfazed.

Rachel shook her head. "I'm fine."

"I wasn't talking about that," Puck replied. "You're trying to change things and it all went to hell this week, so I want to know how I can help."

"What?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"I know what you're doing," Puck stated. "First you had Sugar slushied, but then she joined anyway. Then Finn had to be a douche and out Santana again. Now Rory's joined. Let's just hope Shelby doesn't appear so Quinn won't go to crazytown again."

"How did you—" Rachel shook her head.

"So, how did you come back?" Puck asked. "It happened at the beginning of school, right? Finn was telling me how you suddenly started acting differently and then I noticed what you were doing. I overheard you asking Santana to slushy the girl and I knew right then that you were trying to stop her from being in that cafeteria that day. You didn't want her screwing everything up again. I was going to tell you that day when I asked to talk, but when you didn't get back to me, I just thought I would sit back and see what you had planned."

Rachel frowned. "I completely forgot that you wanted to talk. And I'm not exactly sure how I came back; I sort of made a wish and woke up here."

Puck nodded. "Can we get some coffee Monday morning and—you know—talk about this shit?"

"Sure," Rachel replied. "That will give this time to sink in." Rachel frowned and tilted her head. "How did you get here?"

Puck sighed. "You weren't the only one who made a wish."

Rachel's eyes widened in understanding. "So you made a wish to come back?"

"I wished every day of my life to be able to redo this year," Puck said, smiling sadly. "Wishing I could change the past was the only way I could live with myself. It's not easy when you killed the only girl you ever cared about just because you were a careless jackass that decided to drive drunk."

Rachel closed her eyes and could feel the tears coming again. They both remained silent for a minute or two when Puck finally said, "I think I'm going to bail from Glee today; I'll see you Monday morning, though?"

Rachel nodded. "Definitely."

* * *

><p><strong>So, yes...some of you were right about Puck also being from the future. <strong>

**Credit goes to my best friend for some of the Truth or Dare ideas.**

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	8. Why Me, Why Now

**Sorry! This took way longer to update than I was expecting, but the end of the school year is always hectic and then right when everything was slowing down, we finally found a new apartment we liked, so I've been moving for nearly the last two weeks. But all of that is over with now, so hopefully I can go back to posting about once a week.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8 - Why Me, Why Now<strong>

"Hello, Noah," Rachel greeted as soon as she spotted him in the coffee shop.

She was forgoing the actual coffee since she was already a jittery mess. She had been unable to sleep for the better part of the weekend and didn't want caffeine exacerbating the problem.

"You look like crap," Puck said when he looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Rachel shook her head. "I haven't been sleeping well."

"Why not?" Puck asked.

Rachel shrugged even though she knew why. It really hit her Friday night that everything she was doing seemed to be for nothing. She had tried so hard to make everything better, but everything was still falling apart.

"Why are we here?" Rachel suddenly asked. "I mean, there has to be a reason, doesn't there? We didn't just magically end up in the past for no reason."

"I don't know," Puck said, shrugging. "I guess."

"What was the last thing you remember before you woke up here?" Rachel asked.

"I was in my apartment, and before I went to bed, I made a wish," Puck said, shrugging.

Rachel nodded. "What day was it?"

"November 29, 2023," Puck replied.

"Same day," Rachel said.

"Yeah, but I came here at an earlier time than you," Puck replied. "When I woke up, it was at the end of our junior year; it was the morning before Nationals. I even tried to stop Finn from kissing you, since I knew the problems it was going to cause, but the ass didn't listen to me."

Rachel frowned. "Why would you get here months before me?"

Puck shrugged. "Who knows; I don't even know why I'm here. At first it freaked me out, but then I realized that I wasn't going anywhere and it's kind of cool to get a second chance, you know?"

"I thought I was here to change everything—to make it better," Rachel said. "But nothing mattered; everything went back to the way it was before. What if—" Rachel wiped the tear that was trailing down her cheek. "What if everything that happened is just fate and nothing I do is going to make a difference. What if the universe is going to correct itself no matter what I do? I thought I could save Quinn, but what if I can't? I can't go through that again."

"We will change that," Puck insisted. "If we have to throw her in a padded room for the rest of her life, she is not going to die, and I'll do everything I can to be sure of that."

Rachel sighed. "I just don't get the point in all of this; if nothing is going to change, then what are we doing here? Why us, why now?"

"You, Rachel Berry, the girl that has lists for everything, are just now thinking of this?" Puck asked, smirking.

"It's not that I haven't been thinking about it, it's that I've been so busy planning how to change everything that I really haven't had time to dwell on the why," Rachel said. "For a long time I thought I would go back at any moment so I didn't worry about why I was here; I was just trying to make the most of my time."

"And now?" Puck asked.

"And now I don't know, but I feel like I have time," Rachel replied. "And now I'm starting to think more about the why."

Puck shrugged. "Personally, I don't care why we're here, just that we are. I fucked up big time, and if I get a chance to change that, then I don't care why or how it happened."

"How are you doing? Umm, you know—in the future?" Rachel asked.

Puck shrugged. "Kind of hard to find a job with my record."

Rachel nodded. "Are you married?"

Puck shook his head. "What about you? I mean, I know you're on Broadway and you and Finn divorced."

"That's actually kind of it for me right now," Rachel replied. "Finn and I never had any children, so I'm living in New York alone. How did you know about the devoice? Do you still keep in touch with some people from school?"

"No, I just sort of followed your career online," Puck said sheepishly. "I lost touch with everyone after what happened. Mostly I couldn't face any of them again. I still live in Lima and run into people every now and then, but I usually nod and go before they can say anything to me. I've never forgiven myself, so I don't expect anyone else to forgive me. Can you tell me what everyone else is doing?"

Rachel nodded. "Brittany and Santana are still in California. Brittany is a fairly high-profile dancer and has appeared in a few movies and Santana is her manager. Mike and Tina are living in Seattle; he owns a dance studio and she's teaches elementary school. Kurt and Blaine are both living in New York; they broke up right after Kurt started at NYADA, but Blaine moved to the city a few years ago and they ran into each other and the rest is history. Kurt was on Broadway for a while, but now he's developing his own fashion line and Blaine is working as a chef. He started out as a waiter while he went to college; eventually, he started working in the kitchen and found out he loved it, so he dropped out and went to culinary school. I heard Artie moved somewhere out west and got married and last I heard, Mercedes and Sam had two children and were living in Tennessee, but I don't really know what either of them is doing."

"At least everyone is doing well," Puck said, smiling. "Don't you think it's weird how many from Glee ended up getting married to each other?"

Rachel frowned. "It is highly improbable, but I think if you go through as much as we all went through, there's bound to be that unbreakable connection."

"I guess," Puck mumbled. "We need to go, but do you think we could talk again sometime?"

"Of course, Noah," Rachel said, looking at her watch. "We're going to be late for school!"

Puck laughed. "Come on, Rachel, I promise I'll get you to school on time."

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><p>"Is Santana here today?" Rachel asked Brittany.<p>

Brittany closed her locker and sadly shook her head. "She wouldn't come."

Rachel sighed. "Have you seen her? I tried calling her all weekend, but she wouldn't answer my calls."

"Yeah, I tried to get her to answer, but she didn't want to talk to anyone," Brittany replied. "She's really sad right now and when she's sad, she hides. I told her that no one cares, but she won't listen to me."

"Do you think she'll attend school tomorrow?" Rachel asked.

Brittany shrugged. "She won't really talk to me. I usually know what to do for her, but I don't and that's making me sad too."

"Just be there for her, Britt," Rachel stated. "She needs to know that people love her and that's not going to change over something as trivial as her sexuality. You two are good for each other and the only time she seems happy is when she's with you. We all see it—we've always seen it."

"I don't think she believes it," Brittany replied. "She thinks everyone is going to hate her."

"I've told her a dozen times that we don't care," Rachel said, huffing and crossing her arms.

"Santana is stubborn," Brittany said. "Even more stubborn than you or Quinn. Plus, she always thinks the worst in people, so when something like this happens, she hides so no one can hurt her. She's afraid of people talking behind her back because it's what she used to do, so she thinks people will do it to her. I told her that those people don't matter, but she doesn't believe that either."

"Just keep trying," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde. "We'll get through to her eventually, but it's going to take a while. If we could just get her back to school, she'll see that her friends in Glee feel exactly the same way about her as before."

"Maybe she'll be here tomorrow," Brittany said, shrugging. "I'll see what I can do about it."

"Try your best to get her here and we'll do our best to make her understand that we love her," Rachel said, grabbing Brittany's hand and giving it a light squeeze.

Brittany smiled. "Thanks, Rach."

Rachel smiled back and watched as the blonde walked down the hall until she spotted Finn standing at his locker and her smile instantly turned into a scowl. She clenched her jaw and started marching up to him when she was grabbed around the waist and pulled into a classroom.

"Oh, no you don't," Kurt said, blocking her path.

"Why did you stop me?" Rachel nearly yelled.

"Because you looked like you were going to walk up to Finn and punch him," Kurt replied.

Rachel huffed. "That's because I was."

"I don't want you getting suspended from school," Kurt said. "It'll look terrible on your transcript to NYADA and Finn is not worth ruining your future over."

"But he shouldn't get away with this," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

"I didn't say he was going to," Kurt replied. "We just need to be smarter about how we get revenge on him."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I've been thinking of a few ideas," Kurt said, squinting his eyes as he thought. "But I'm sure we can think of something humiliating. We just need to get creative and make sure we're not going to get in trouble for it."

Rachel nodded in agreement. "Start thinking of ideas and let me know what you come up with."

"Will do," Kurt replied. "Now, if I let you go, will you promise not to hit him?"

"I promise," Rachel replied. "I plan on making him suffer way more than that."

Kurt smiled. "I really wouldn't want to be him right now."

* * *

><p>"Santana," Rachel whispered when she spotted the other girl in the hallway the next day.<p>

She pushed several people out of the way to get to the other girl, not bothering to see who she had run into or even to apologize. Her only focus was getting to Santana and seeing how she was doing. Rachel hadn't expected her to be at school today, but she figured Brittany must have somehow persuaded her into attending.

"Santana!" Rachel called out when the other girl started walking away.

Santana stopped and sighed as soon as she heard the other girl's voice. "Not now, Berry."

"But—"

"What part of 'not now' don't you understand?" Santana asked, turning around and glaring at Rachel.

"I just wanted to tell you that I missed you and I'm glad you're back," Rachel said, slightly taken aback by Santana's hostility toward her.

A frown briefly appeared on Santana's face before she turned around and started walking away again. Rachel sighed as she watched her go; Santana didn't go very far, though, since she turned a second later and went into the nearest bathroom. She knew she probably shouldn't follow Santana, but she quickly walked to the bathroom and quietly shut the door behind her.

"Santana?" Rachel said, walking over to the furthest stall where she could hear Santana crying.

"Go away," Santana quietly said, sniffing.

Rachel lowered herself to the floor and sat down, slightly cringing at the thought of all the germs on the floor of the bathroom. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Do you ever listen to a damn thing anyone says?" Santana asked, sounding more tired than angry.

Rachel smiled to herself. "No." Santana didn't reply so Rachel decided to start talking. "Why are you crying?"

Santana scoffed. "Who says I'm crying?"

"Just because I can't see you, it doesn't mean I can't hear you," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Santana Lopez doesn't cry," Santana stated.

"Liar," Rachel said, shaking her head. "It's okay, you know? You don't have to be tough every second of your life; you are allowed to be vulnerable everyone once in a while. I know you hate it, but I'm not going to tell anyone, so you can be honest with me."

The door flung up and Rachel almost fell backwards since she had been resting her back against the stall door. When she looked up, she could see that Santana obviously had been crying; her eyes were red and her face was slightly puffy.

"How did he know?" Santana asked.

Rachel frowned. "What?"

"Finn," Santana said. "How the hell did he know about me and Britt? Did you tell him?"

"What?" Rachel said, quickly standing up. "No! I wouldn't do that."

"Then how did he know?" Santana asked, raising her voice.

"I swear, Santana, I didn't tell him anything!" Rachel quickly said. "Do you really think I would do that to you?"

"Someone had to have told him," Santana said, taking a step toward Rachel, but Rachel didn't back away.

"No one had to tell him anything," Rachel replied. "Finn might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he isn't completely stupid; you and Brittany are not as secret as you think. Anyone who knows you two at all can see what you mean to each other. He probably just saw what the rest of us saw."

"My parents are going to find out," Santana said, walking to the wall and sliding down it. "Everyone heard him; it's just a matter of time before someone says something and they kick me out."

Rachel walked over and sat down next to her. "They're not going to kick you out; your parents love you and it's not going to be as bad as you think. I know you're thinking the worst is going to happen, and I can't promise that everyone will accept you, but you need to give people a chance and stop assuming they're going to disappoint you."

"You can't know that," Santana replied.

"Well, if I'm wrong, you can come and live with me," Rachel said. "My fathers won't mind and we have a guestroom that you can stay in for as long as you need to."

Santana shook her head. "Why do you have to be so nice? I've been such a bitch to you."

Rachel shrugged. "Come on." Rachel stood up and offered her hand for Santana to take. "Let's get you cleaned up and get you to class."

* * *

><p>"I'm going to kill Finn," Rachel stated.<p>

Kurt looked up at her. "What did he do now?"

"Santana is here today," Rachel whispered. "After I said hello to her, she left and I found her crying in the bathroom; she thinks her parents are going to kick her out when they find out!"

Kurt sighed. "I would offer her a place to stay, but I doubt she's going to want to live in a house with my idiot stepbrother."

"I already informed her that she may stay with me in the event that her parents do kick her out, but I don't think it will come to that," Rachel replied."

Kurt laughed. "Can you ima—"

"You!" Rachel suddenly shouted down the hall.

Almost everyone in the hallway turned and looked in her direction except the one person she was shouting at. She quickly walked down the hall and shoved Finn in the shoulder as hard as she could. He didn't budge very much considering Rachel was so small and he was twice her size, but it did get his attention.

"What are you doing, Rachel?" he asked, looking at her curiously as he scratched his head.

Rachel scowled at him and he shrunk back a bit. "Why did you have to do that to Santana! Everyone thinks you're this great guy, but really, you're an immature asshole. You think you can get away with anything because everyone thinks you're too stupid to know any better, but in reality, you know exactly what you're doing. No matter what you do or how low you sink, you still come out smelling like roses and I'm tired of it. You're not the golden boy you like to think you are and one day, everyone else is going to realize it too."

This time, every single person in the hall was staring at Rachel, listening to every word she was shouting at Finn. Kurt and Puck were both looking on in awe, never having seen Rachel like this before.

"Rachel," Finn whispered, taking a few steps forward so other people couldn't hear him. "You heard what she said to me. I know I shouldn't have lost my cool, but—"

"I don't care what she said to you, Finn Hudson," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips and not bothering to keep her voice down. "You don't do that to someone. You crossed the line and I will never forgive you for it."

With that, Rachel turned on her heel and walked away, leaving dozens of stunned students in the hall, still gaping at Finn. Several were looking at him in disappointment, but most just looked shocked at having witnessed Rachel Berry yelling and cussing. Even Coach Sylvester was standing by, looking slightly impressed.

"Hey, Rach, wait up," Kurt said, slightly jogging to catch up to the girl.

"That was badass," Puck said, coming up to the two and fist bumping Rachel.

"I must agree," Kurt said, smiling.

"Puck, can you do me a favor and beat up Finn?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel!" Kurt said, gasping.

"What?" Rachel asked, shrugging.

"You know I don't condone physical violence," Kurt said, crossing his arms. "Even when people deserve it."

"Fine," Rachel said, sighing. "But can you two both talk to Santana for me? She needs to know that we all still care about her just as we did before and that none of this changes our opinion of her."

"I'll find her at lunch," Kurt said, nodding in agreement.

"I guess I can," Puck replied. "I don't really do feelings, though."

Rachel shook her head, but had a smile on her face. "Just let her know that you do not think any differently of her—and avoid bringing up a threesome."

Puck smirked. "I make no promises.

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><p>"I'll get it!" Rachel shouted, bounding down the stairs.<p>

Her father quickly got out of the way before Rachel could run into him. "Don't run in the house, Sweetheart."

Rachel ignored him and didn't slow down until she reached the door; Leroy just rolled his eyes and walked back into the kitchen where he was making dinner. When she reached the bottom of the steps, Rachel smoothed down her skirt and ran a hand through her hair before finally opening the door. Quinn was standing on the welcome mat, fidgeting with her hands; Rachel smiled at her and she immediately stopped fidgeting and smiled back.

"Hello, Quinn," Rachel greeted.

"Hey," Quinn replied, ducking her head.

Rachel stepped aside. "Please, come in." Quinn took a deep breath before taking a step into the house; Rachel looked at her curiously. "Are you okay? You seem nervous."

"I am," Quinn admitted.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Why?"

"I'm slightly afraid of meeting your fathers," Quinn said, blushing. "Given our past history, I can't imagine they'll be too pleased to have me in their home."

"Only one of them is home right now if that makes you feel any better," Rachel replied. "And they don't hate you; I can't say they are your biggest fans, but they know we're friends now, so just be yourself and I'm sure they will love you in no time. Come on." Rachel nodded toward the kitchen and started walking, with Quinn following closely behind. "Daddy, I would like to introduce you to someone; this is Quinn Fabray."

Leroy turned around and wiped his hand on a towel before sticking it out. "Hello, Quinn."

"Hello, Mr. Berry," Quinn said, politely shaking the man's hand.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Leroy asked.

"I—"

"She is," Rachel answered for her.

"I guess I am," Quinn said, laughing.

"We'll be up in my room, Daddy," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn by the arm and pulling her out of the kitchen.

Rachel let go of her arm as soon as they were out of the kitchen and led Quinn up the stairs; her room was hard to miss since it was the only with the big gold star on the door, which Quinn immediately noticed and smiled at. Rachel opened the door and ushered Quinn inside; she gave her a moment to snoop around before they both finally took a seat on the bed.

"See, that wasn't as bad as you were thinking, was it?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "I guess that depends on whether or not I get interrogated at dinner."

"They won't do that," Rachel said, shaking her head, but then she stopped and frowned. "I don't think."

"Way to make a person feel better," Quinn joked.

Rachel smiled. "Sorry."

"Should we get started?" Quinn asked.

"Please," Rachel said, throwing her script to Quinn.

The opening night for West Side Story was the next day; Rachel knew all of her lines, but she was nothing if not a perfectionist, so when Quinn had offered her help if she needed it, Rachel immediately jumped at the chance. She still remembered most of it from years ago, which was good since she had been preoccupied, and if she had been starting from scratch, there was no way she would be prepared right now. Her worst nightmare was forgetting the words, though, which is why she was going over it one last time.

"Are you getting nervous about tomorrow night?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "Not really; more excited than nervous, although I do not look forward to working with Finn."

"I still can't believe Mercedes threatened to quit if they paired her with him," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel couldn't believe it either; Mercedes knew Rachel didn't want to work with Finn, but she didn't seem to care. She had thrown a complete diva tantrum that rivaled even Rachel, so Beiste, Artie, and Miss Pillsbury agreed to let Mercedes be paired opposite Blaine, leaving Rachel stuck with Finn. No one was less happy about it than Rachel, but she knew the show must go on and sucked it up.

"Did you really yell at Finn the other day?" Quinn asked. "It's all anyone has been talking about at school."

Rachel blushed. "Maybe."

Quinn laughed. "I'm glad someone did; he was a complete ass for doing that to Santana. I know she can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but no one deserves that. Personally, I was planning on something a little more subtle, but what you did was perfect. It was _all_ anyone could talk about and you know how much his precious reputation means to him. I hoped Santana would feel better after hearing what happened to him, but she is still moping around school all day. I tried talking to her, but she didn't seem to want to hear anything I had to say."

"Give her time," Rachel said. "She's just going through a lot and pushing everyone away. Keep trying, though; she needs to know that we're all here for her."

Quinn smiled, looking amused. "When did you become the expert on Santana?"

"We have an understanding," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Girls, dinner is ready!"

"Already?" Quinn asked. "Isn't it a bit early?"

"Dad is pulling a double shift, so if he doesn't eat now, he'll have to eat cafeteria food," Rachel explained.

Quinn scrunched her face. "Eww."

"Which is why we're eating so early," Rachel said, laughing. "We can start rehearsing after dinner. Come on, now you get to meet my other father."

Rachel jumped off the bed and led Quinn back downstairs and into the dinning; both of her fathers were already sitting down and looked up at the two as they walked in.

"Leroy was just telling me that we had a guest," Hiram said, standing up and extending his hand. "Hiram Berry."

"This is Quinn," Rachel said as Quinn reached out to shake her father's hand.

"So I've heard," Hiram said, sitting back down.

Hiram smiled at Rachel, but she could see that it didn't quite reach his eyes; even after Quinn had died, he was the one that had never really forgiven her for how she had treated Rachel.

Rachel and Quinn both took their seats and Hiram immediately said, "So, you're the one that used to throw slushies at our daughter and call her every derogatory name you could think of."

"Dad!" Rachel groaned and put her head in her hands.

Quinn shifted uncomfortably. "Yes."

"Can we not do this at the dinner table," Leroy asked.

"Well, when do you want to do it?" Hiram asked his husband.

"How about never?" Rachel suggested. "Quinn has apologized for her past actions; I have completely forgiven her and you should too."

"Rachel, it's okay," Quinn said, speaking up. "They don't have to forgive me; I was a terrible person to you, and if it were my daughter, I wouldn't forgive so easily either. I do promise, though, that I will never do anything to hurt her ever again."

Leroy nodded and smiled at her, but Hiram still didn't look very happy.

"There," Rachel said. "Can we please eat?"

"How was your day at work?" Leroy asked Hiram.

Rachel smiled gratefully at her Daddy and turned to give Quinn a smile. The blonde looked pale, though, so Rachel reached over and gently squeezed her arm. Quinn looked at her, smiled lightly, and mouthing 'thanks'.

* * *

><p>"You did amazing!" Quinn said.<p>

She walked up to Rachel, picked her up, and spun her around, hugging her. Rachel laughed and beamed at the blonde after she sat her feet back onto the ground.

"Thank you," Rachel said, blushing a bit at the compliment.

"How was I?" Finn asked.

Quinn shrugged and ignored him. "Everyone's talking about going to Breadstix to celebrate; do you want to join us?"

"Of course," Rachel replied. "Let me just get my things."

"Can I come?" Finn asked.

Quinn sneered a bit. "If you must."

"Great, I'm ready whenever," Finn replied.

Rachel rolled her eyes; Finn obviously couldn't take a hint that no one wanted him there. It was bad enough having to act like she loved him for the play, but now she had to spend the rest of the night with him as well. She walked to her dressing room and quickly grabbed her bag. When she went back, she found Quinn and Finn exactly like she had left them; Finn was staring off into space and Quinn was glaring at him.

"Ready," she said, drawing their attention to her.

"Want a ride?" Finn asked.

"She's riding with me," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel's arm and pulling her along before Finn had a chance to protest.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, watching the blonde's expression

"I really want to punch him in the face right now," Quinn replied.

The car ride was mostly spent silent; Rachel tried to make some small talk, but Quinn still seemed to be annoyed that Finn was coming. Rachel wasn't happy about it, but she didn't understand why Quinn seemed so angry. She knew better than to bring it up, though, so she ignored Quinn's behavior and tried to talk to her even if it was a very one-sided conversation.

When they got to the restaurant, almost everyone else was already there and Finn came in right behind them. Rachel sat down beside Santana and Finn tried to sit down next to her, but Quinn shoved him out of the way.

"Find another seat," she demanded.

Santana looked on in amusement and openly laughed while Kurt and Tina tried to be a little more discreet with their amusement. Finn glared at her, but didn't say a word as he walked to the other side of the table and sat at the end.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked Quinn as the waitress walked around, taking everyone's drink order.

"Didn't you already ask me that?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shrugged. "You seem like something is bothering you—more than usual."

"It's nothing," Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed, but turned around to talk to Santana since she knew Quinn wasn't going to admit whatever was wrong with her.

"A toast," Kurt said, raising his glass after the waitress had brought their drinks and taken their orders. "To an amazing show; hopefully the first of many to come."

"Here, here," Mike said, smiling as he clinked his glass to Tina's.

"And especially to Rachel, who was amazing tonight," Kurt added, smiling at the brunette.

Rachel blushed. "Thank you, Kurt."

"You know, she's not the only one that was out there tonight," Finn said, causing everyone to stare at him.

"No, she's just the only one who kicked ass tonight," Santana said, scoffing.

"Seriously, Finn, no one wants you here, so why don't you either leave or at least shut up so we don't have to hear your whiney, immature comments," Quinn said, angrily.

"Why are you two suddenly acting like you're friends with Rachel?" Finn asked, standing up and knocking his chair over in the process. "You two don't even like her; you've picked on her since freshman year and suddenly you're best friends?"

"Newsflash, Finnept, no one here hates Berry," Santana replied. "You're the one we hate, so why don't you take your oafish self and get out of here because if I have to look at you while I'm eating, I don't think I'll be able to keep my food down."

Kurt couldn't help but snicker while the rest of the group was still trying to hide their smiles.

"I don't have to take this crap from you guys!" Finn shouted.

"Dude, just go," Puck said. "No one wants you here. You might be my best friend, but what you did to Santana wasn't cool and you're acting like a gigantic jackass right now."

Finn clinched his jaw, grabbed his jacket from the floor, and stomped toward Quinn. For a moment, Rachel thought he was going to hit her and was ready to get between them if she needed to, but he just leaned down, quickly said something into her ear, and stomped off. Everyone looked at Quinn questioningly, but she just shrugged, so everyone went back to their conversations, like nothing had happened.

"What did he say to you?" Rachel whispered.

"Nothing," Quinn whispered back. "It's not important."

* * *

><p><strong>Again, sorry for how long it took me to update; hopefully that won't happen again.<strong>

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	9. Here We Go Again

**Another update! And it didn't take a month!**

**Sabrina: Thank you for making me laugh out loud.**

**CobaltBlue94: It only sounded a little creepy ;)**

**erw-fan: Thank you for informing me of the memo since it did get lost. Is three days quick enough? Seriously, though, your comment made me laugh and is the reason you're reading this update now since I hadn't planned on writing it this quickly, but figured what the hell.**

**To everyone else: Thank you for the amazing reviews. I was slightly worried people would start forgetting about the story, but you all proved me wrong.**

**Enjoy… **

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 – Here We Go Again<strong>

"All right, guys, before we go, I have an announcement," Mr. Schue was standing in front of everyone and clapped his hands together, smiling. "It's that time of the year again—it's time for the third annual mash-up competition!"

There were several whoops around the room and Rachel clapped her hands together; it was one of Mr. Schue's few assignments that she always enjoyed. Most of the time his ideas were a bit lackluster, but they always had fun doing the mash-ups.

"That's not all!" Mr. Schue said excitedly. "This year we will be doing our mash-up competition as duets instead of boys versus girls!"

Rachel's hand immediately flew up. "Excuse me, Mr. Schue?"

"Ah, yes, Rachel?" Mr. Schue asked.

"Will we get to choose our duet partners?" Rachel asked hopefully.

Mr. Schue pulled out a hat and almost everyone groaned. "No. To be more fair, everyone is going pick a name at random from the hat. Once you get your partner, that's it; no trading—and I don't want to hear any complaints about who your duet partner is. You all are a team and you need to get outside your comfort zone." Mr. Schue reached into the hat and pulled out a piece of paper. "Blaine, you're first."

He walked up to Blaine and shook the hat; Blaine reached in, grabbed a piece of paper and read out, "Tina."

Both of them seemed fairly pleased and Sugar's turn was next. She got Mike's name, who seemed less than pleased to be paired up with someone with even less vocal ability than him. Next, Rory picked Brittany's name; the blonde seemed happy, but Santana grumbled and crossed her arms. Santana was next; she pulled out Kurt's name and they both shrugged at each other. Artie drew Puck's name, causing a few people in the room to giggle, but they quickly stopped when Puck shot them an intimidating look.

"Finn, you're next," Mr. Schue stated.

Finn walked up to the front of the room and Rachel started praying to any higher being that would listen for him to pick anyone but her. Doing West Side Story was bad enough, but things were becoming almost unbearable since the blowup at Breadstix and she couldn't take having to do the assignment with him as well.

"Mercedes," he called out, sounding slightly disappointed.

Rachel mouthed a silent 'thanks' to the sky and smirked; it served Mercedes right for making her pair up with him for the musical.

"I guess that just leaves Quinn and Rachel," Mr. Schue said, pulling the last two names from the hat.

Rachel turned around and smiled at the blonde and Quinn returned the smile, albeit less enthusiastically. Rachel couldn't really complain about being paired up with Quinn; she didn't have the strongest voice in the group, but their voices harmonized well together and she was definitely a competent dancer.

"Does the winner get a free meal at Breadstix again?" Santana asked.

"Even better," Mr. Schue said, smiling. "The winning team gets to perform their mash-up at Sectionals."

Santana grumbled something that Rachel couldn't quite hear, but everyone else seemed excited about the prize and Rachel was more determined than ever to win. Not only would she get to beat everyone else, but she would also get another prominent performance at a competition, which were her two favorite things in life—winning and performing.

Mr. Schue clapped his hands again. "Alright, with the remaining time, get with your partners and start coming up with ideas!"

Rachel immediately walked to the corner of the room and motioned for Quinn to follow. She glared at Mike and Sugar when they tried to get too close; she wanted to win and wasn't about to let anyone steal her ideas. Luckily, though, Mike took the hint and walked to the other side of the room, next to Tina and Blaine.

"So, I was thinking we should do a mash-up of two Jackson songs," Rachel stated.

"Michael, Janet, or Five?" Quinn asked.

"Either," Rachel replied.

Doing the Jackson songs were such a big hit the first time, Rachel didn't want to risk losing Sectionals by not doing them this time, which meant their mash-up would have to be something by the Jacksons. Normally it was something she never would have suggested, but she really didn't have much choice. It also meant losing this competition was not an option if her plan was going to work.

"How about we both come with some ideas tonight and reconvene tomorrow morning to tell each other what we came up with," Rachel suggested. "We can meet in the auditorium before school; that should give us both enough time to adequately prepare."

"Whatever you say," Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel frowned and watched as Quinn walked over to her seat and grabbed her stuff before leaving the room without another word. She didn't know what was wrong with the blonde, but she had been acting strangely all day. Quinn had been at the bleachers in the morning like she always was on Mondays, but she didn't really speak to Rachel. Rachel wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she didn't want to be clingy like she usually became when she felt like someone was pulling away; she knew it would only push Quinn further away. So, she decided she would give it some time and hope things went back to normal sooner rather than later since they had a mash-up competition to win and she couldn't let anything distract her from it.

* * *

><p>"I apologize for my tardiness," Rachel said as she burst through the auditorium door. "I was up rather late last night trying to decide on the perfect mash-up and I simply overslept. I can assure you that it will never happen again."<p>

"I was about to send out the National Guard since you're never late. I figured you must have been kidnapped sometime in the middle of the night," Quinn said, jumping off the edge of the stage where she had been sitting. "Kidding—it's fine, Berry."

"Well, since we are both here, we should get started," Rachel stated. "Would you like to go first?"

"I didn't come up with anything," Quinn said, shrugging.

"How could you not take this assignment seriously, Quinn?" Rachel said, gasping slightly.

"Because no matter what I happened to come up with, you would inevitably think whatever you came up with was better," Quinn replied. "And I learned a long time ago that there is no point in arguing with you since you always get your way."

Rachel frowned. "I don't _always_ get my way."

Quinn gave her a look of disbelief and shook her head. "So, what did you come up with?"

"I propose a mash-up of the Jackson 5 songs I'll Be There and I Want You Back," Rachel said, handing Quinn the lyrics. "They are two classic songs and I think the judges at Sectionals would love them."

"What makes you think we'll be performing it at Sectionals?" Quinn asked, holding back a grin.

Rachel scoffed. "Are you telling me you don't believe we're going to win this little competition? Because I am the best singer in Glee and your voice complements mine perfectly. No one else is going to stand a chance." Quinn was looking down at the lyrics and a frown appeared on her face; Rachel was watching her intently and immediately noticed the look on her face. "Is something the matter?"

Quinn cleared her throat and looking up at Rachel. "You don't think this is a little—"

"A little what?" Rachel asked.

"Isn't this more something you would have sung with Finn?" Quinn asked. "Is it really appropriate for us to sing—especially in front of the judges?"

Rachel waved her hand, dismissing the idea. "It's just a song, Quinn, it doesn't mean anything."

Quinn sighed. "Fine, then; I don't care what we do."

"Great, let's get started rehearsing," Rachel said, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Not now, Berry," Quinn said, grabbing her bag.

"But we have to perform Friday," Rachel said, following Quinn. "We need to prepare, we need to be perfect."

Quinn sighed and dropped her bag. "Fine, but you're going to owe me after this."

"Winning will be the reward," Rachel said, smiling.

An hour later and the girls had not made any progress with the song. While Quinn was going along with whatever Rachel wanted, Rachel was still not happy with anything she was seeing

"What am I doing wrong now?" Quinn asked loudly.

"Don't yell at me, Quinn!" Rachel yelled back.

Quinn rubbed her temples and took a deep breath. "Then stop telling me everything I do is wrong! I'm trying here."

"I know," Rachel said quietly, losing some of her frustration. "You just need to loosen up; you're too tense and it's showing in your dancing and your singing. Come on—let's take a five minute break."

Rachel walked to the edge of the stage and sat down. She pulled her bag over and took out a bottle of water. As she was unscrewing the cap, she looked back and saw that Quinn was still standing in the same spot, so she motioned for the blonde to sit next to her, but the blonde didn't move. "Are you just going to stand there?"

Quinn shrugged. "I was thinking about it."

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, taking a drink of the water. "You haven't been acting like yourself today. I know we haven't exactly been friends for that long, but you can talk to me. Is it me? Did I do something to upset you and you don't want to hurt my feelings by telling me?"

Quinn laughed. "When have I ever been worried about hurting your feelings?"

Rachel frowned and took another drink before putting the lid back on the bottle. "Fine."

"I'm sorry," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I've just been having one of those weeks I guess."

"I just don't get it," Rachel admitted. "One minute you're happy and joking around and then you're either ignoring me or snapping at me."

"I told you I was sorry," Quinn said. "What else do you want from me?"

Rachel stood up and walked closer to Quinn. "I want you to talk to me."

"Well, I can't," Quinn said.

Quinn grabbed her bag and this time she did leave and Rachel didn't try to stop her. Rachel watched Quinn as she quickly walked down the aisle, toward the door. When the door closed behind Quinn, Rachel let out a sigh and shook her head in confusion. She didn't understand what was wrong and she couldn't if Quinn wasn't going to talk to her. They had been okay Friday, but this morning, Quinn would be herself one moment and then cold and distant the next.

They had been okay Friday night, hadn't they?

Things were a little weird with everyone ganging up against Finn, but Quinn had been okay after—maybe a little quieter than usual. Rachel frowned as she thought back to Friday night and realized that Quinn barely said anything to her after Finn had departed, but she had been so busy enjoying everyone else's company that she hadn't really noticed at the time. Maybe Quinn was upset with her now because she hadn't noticed that something had been wrong. Or maybe she was still upset over whatever she had originally been upset over.

Rachel shook her head, trying to clear her rambling thoughts. She had all day to figure out what was wrong with her friend. She would just find her later and just ask her.

* * *

><p>Rachel hadn't found her later; she didn't know if Quinn was avoiding her or if she had left school, but she was nowhere to be found for the rest of the day. Rachel had even sent her numerous texts, but they went unanswered.<p>

As soon as she walked into school the next day, she immediately went in search of the blonde. It didn't take her long to find her standing with Santana and Brittany near their lockers.

"Hey, Rach," Brittany said whenever she saw her.

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, putting on a fake smile. "Excuse me, but I need to speak to Quinn for a moment."

Rachel didn't give Quinn the chance to object; she had grabbed her hand and starting pulling her away from the two Cheerios and into the nearest bathroom.

"What the hell, Berry," Quinn said, pulling her hand away as soon as they were inside the room.

"Okay, that right there," Rachel said, pointing at Quinn. "When did I become Berry to you again? You stopped calling me by my last name a while ago. Just tell me what I did to upset you so I can fix it and we can go back to the way we were."

"Who says you did anything?" Quinn asked.

Rachel huffed. "Because you're turning back into the girl only referred to me by my last name, if I was lucky—the girl that had slushies thrown in my face and wouldn't give me the time of day."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "You're being paranoid."

"No, I'm not!" Rachel said, stomping her foot.

"God, can't you just leave it?" Quinn said, shaking her head. "I already told you that you didn't do anything. Why can't you just accept that I'm having a bad week and stop asking about it?"

"Because it might help if you talk about it," Rachel stated.

"Did you ever think that maybe I don't want to talk about it?" Quinn yelled. "You don't have to know everything that goes on in people's lives. No wonder you never had friends before. You drive everyone nuts until they can't stand you anymore."

Tears instantly sprung to Rachel's eyes and she felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. All she had ever done was try to be a good friend to Quinn and everyone else, but no matter what she did, it didn't seem to matter.

"Rachel, I'm sorry," Quinn whispered. "I didn't mean it."

Rachel shook her head. "Yes, you did."

"I—"

"Meet me in the auditorium after school tomorrow so we can rehearse once more," Rachel said, staring at the floor. "After that I'll leave you alone."

"Rachel—"

"Have a good day, Quinn," Rachel said, walking away.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Santana asked as soon as Rachel left the bathroom.

"It's nothing, Santana," Rachel lied.

Rachel stiffened when she felt someone's arms wrap around her, but she immediately relaxed when she realized who it was.

"Don't be sad," Brittany whispered into her ear.

Rachel tried to smile as Brittany pulled away. "I'll be okay."

As soon as Rachel heard the bathroom door open behind her, she gave one last smile to Brittany and started walking away. She hoped Quinn wouldn't follow her and didn't really expect her to since she didn't immediately follow her out of the bathroom. Instead of going to the auditorium, where she usually went when she was upset, she set her sights on the choir room. The bell would ring about five minutes, so she didn't have long to compose herself, but it would do; after years of slushies and taunts, she was fairly used to it. At least she could always find a place to be alone.

"What did Q do to you?"

Or almost alone.

Rachel sighed. "It's nothing, Santana."

"How do you expect me to always be honest with you when you lie to me," Santana asked, walking around Rachel so she was standing directly in front of her. "What did she do?"

Rachel shook her head. "It's not important."

"If it's not important, why are you crying?" Santana asked.

"She just—" Rachel threw her hands in the air. "She's reverting back to the Quinn that hates me."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Q never hated you."

Rachel scoffed. "Well she could have fooled me."

"Here's the thing you have to learn about her," Santana said, sitting down in one of the chairs and patting the one beside her. "Q has always done what was expected of her. She became a Cheerio because it's what her parents wanted, she dated Finn because it's what the head Cheerio is supposed to do, she bullied you because you were at the bottom of the ladder and that's what people on top do. Getting pregnant wasn't expected, but she gave Beth up and went back to doing what she did before. You have to give her a break; I'm sure she was a bitch and hurt you, but she's trying. This year, she finally broke away from her parents' expectation and it's the first time she's ever done things her way and she doesn't know what she's doing. She _is_ trying, but she's going to screw up every once in a while, so don't completely write her off when she does."

"I think I'm rubbing off on you," Rachel said, cracking a smile.

"What the hell does that mean?" Santana asked, scowling.

"I think that's the most you have ever said at one time and it was very insightful," Rachel replied. "You sounded just like me for a moment."

"Whatever, Berry," Santana said, shoving Rachel's arm. "Get your ass to class."

"Thank you, Santana," Rachel said, smiling widely as the other girl started walking away.

"Uh huh," Santana said, looking over her shoulder. "Don't count on it ever happening again—and if you ever tell Q we had this conversation, I will end you."

"And she's back," Rachel joked.

"You best believe it," Santana said, smiling a bit too much for Rachel to take her seriously.

* * *

><p>Rachel hadn't spoken to Quinn since the incident in the bathroom, so she was a little surprised to see her in the auditorium as she had instructed her to be. When Rachel walked in, Quinn was sitting on the stage, drumming her fingers on the floor; Rachel couldn't tell if she was nervous or just bored. The door shut behind her and Quinn immediately stopped what she was doing and looked toward the brunette. Rachel avoided eye contact with her and walked to the stage, staring at the floor the whole way there.<p>

"Don't worry, I'll get this over as quickly as possible," Rachel finally said as she walked up the steps to the stage.

"You don't have to do that," Quinn quietly said.

"Have you practiced any?" Rachel asked, ignoring what Quinn had said.

"Yeah," Quinn replied.

"Good, that should make this faster," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed. "Rach—"

"Let's start from the beginning," Rachel said, cutting off whatever Quinn was about to say.

A frown crossed over Quinn face, as she stood up, ready to go. Rachel momentarily felt guilty for her behavior toward the blonde, but reminded herself what Quinn had said to her the day before. Quinn had said much worse in the past, but this time it hurt more than ever. Before they weren't friends; yes it still hurt being called names, but to have a friend say such hurtful things was much worse. She knew she should probably give Quinn a chance to explain, but she really didn't feel like hearing it right now. She just wanted to get through rehearsing the mash-up and then go home where she could curl up in front of the television and ignore everything going on in her life for a few hours. This would be when she would normally get drinks with Kurt, but that wasn't an option anymore, so she was making do with what she had.

Rehearsals were awkward, to say the least. The only time Rachel would talk to Quinn was when she was instructing her, usually telling her she was doing something wrong. For her part, Quinn stayed mostly quiet, doing whatever Rachel was telling her to do. Several times she tried to say something that didn't pertain to the task at hand, but Rachel would quickly change the subject. Both girls were visibly frustrated by the time everything was over. They had gotten through the entire song twice, though, and Rachel finally thought they were good enough to beat the rest of the Glee members.

"I think we're ready for our performance," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'll see you at Glee tomorrow. Make sure you practice tonight so you don't forget the lyrics or the dance moves."

"Rachel—"

"Goodnight, Quinn," Rachel said, quickly grabbing her bag.

"Rachel, stop!" Quinn yelled.

Rachel did stop and Quinn hesitantly walked up to her until she was standing a few feet in front of her. "What is it, Quinn?"

"Can we just talk for five minutes?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know what there is to talk about," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean what I said yesterday; I was just frustrated and took it out on you."

"I don't get what I did to deserve it," Rachel said, taking a step forward. "All I have ever tried to do was be your friend and you throw it in my face. I just wanted to make everything better and you pushed me away."

"I'm sor—"

"Yes, I know—you're sorry," Rachel interrupted. "And I'm sorry, Quinn, but that doesn't always make everything better."

Rachel stepped around Quinn and hurriedly left the auditorium; she started making her way to the front of the school, but unexpectedly bumped into someone as she rounded the corner.

"Sorry, Britt," Rachel said as the other girl's bag spilled all over the floor.

"Hey, Rach," Brittany said, bending down to pick up her belongings.

"What are you doing here so late?" Rachel asked, getting on her knees to help the blonde.

"Cheerios practice just got out," Brittany replied.

Rachel frowned. "No it didn't; I saw everyone leave thirty minutes ago when I went to use the restroom."

"Oh, right," Brittany said, scratching her head.

"Brittany, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked again.

"Promise you won't say anything to San?" Brittany asked and Rachel nodded. "She wanted me to watch you and Quinn and make sure she didn't hurt you again. You weren't supposed to know that, though."

"Have you been watched me the whole time?" Rachel asked.

Brittany nodded. "Santana told Coach I was sick so I could be here."

"Why did she ask you to do that?" Rachel asked.

"She didn't want Quinn messing up again," Brittany replied. "Santana hates seeing you two mad and not talking to each other."

"That's sweet, but you didn't have to watch us," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"I know, but I don't like it when you don't talk to each other, either," Brittany replied. "San told me that Quinn said some mean things to you and she doesn't know why, but I think I do. Quinn is afraid and when she gets afraid, she runs or hurts people." Brittany furrowed her brows. "She's a lot like Santana."

Rachel frowned. "Why would Quinn be afraid?"

"Because it's you and she doesn't know what to do," Brittany replied, causing Rachel to frown even more.

"Sorry, but I'm not really following you," Rachel said, shaking her head. "What's me?"

Brittany sighed. "I can't really tell you; Quinn needs to do that herself."

"Did Santana tell you something that she's not telling me?" Rachel asked.

"No," Brittany said, shaking her head. "I just see more than people think I do. I know you don't understand now, but you will. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow."

Brittany walked away and left a very confused Rachel standing there, gaping after her. She didn't know if Brittany was insane or a genius because she didn't understand anything she had just said. Rachel was leaning toward the former, though, since it was almost laughable that Quinn was afraid of anything that had to do with Rachel.

Despite the confusion, Rachel couldn't help the smile that slowly spread across her face. Santana had sent Brittany because she was worried. All of her other plans may have fallen apart, but her unorthodox friendship with Santana wasn't one of those things and, ironically, it was the one thing she hadn't really planned for. Her only intention had been to get Brittany and Santana together, but Santana was proving to be more than she had expected. The other girl was actually looking out for her now, which was something she never would have thought possible.

* * *

><p>"Okay, last, but not least, Rachel and Quinn," Mr. Schue said, stepping aside and sitting in one of the chairs in the front row.<p>

Rachel and Quinn walked to the front of the room; Rachel cleared her throat and looked to Quinn. The blonde smiled at her and Rachel gave her a sad one back as the band started playing the opening chords to the songs. When it finally got to her part, Rachel opened her mouth and started singing.

_"When I had you to myself_  
><em>I didn't want you around<em>  
><em>Those pretty faces always made you<em>  
><em>Stand out in a crowd<em>  
><em>But someone picked you from the bunch<em>  
><em>One glance was all it took<em>  
><em>Now it's much too late for me<em>  
><em>To take second look"<em>

Rachel sang as her and Quinn danced in unison. Rachel was smiling, forgetting that she was still upset with Quinn, but if they were going to win, she needed to ignore everything that was going on outside the room.

_"Oh baby give me one more chance_  
><em>To show you that I love you<em>  
><em>Won't you please send me back in your heart"<em>

Brittany was smiling and dancing in her seat; almost everyone was clapping along, except for Finn, who looked like he smelled something funny. As Quinn walked over to Rachel to sing her part, Puck hooted and both girls rolled their eyes at each other.

_"And oh, I'll be there to comfort you_  
><em>Build my world of dreams around you<em>  
><em>I'm so glad that I found you<em>  
><em>I'll be there with a love that's strong<em>  
><em>I'll be your strength, I'll keep holding on<em>  
><em>Yes I will, yes I will"<em>

The song was upbeat since they opted to go with the music for I Want You Back, which meant Mike was dancing on the risers with Brittany. Santana didn't seem too happy with it, but she was keeping her scowling to a minimum and actually seemed to be enjoying their performance.

Rachel took her microphone from the mic stand and smiled as Quinn finished her verse. The brunette then turned to the blonde and started singing to her again.

_"Trying to live without your love_  
><em>Is one long sleepless night<em>  
><em>Let me show you girl<em>  
><em>That I know wrong from right"<em>

By now, Finn had his arms crossed and was scowling at Quinn, who winked at him. Rachel tried not to laugh at the gesture but failed miserably as Quinn started singing her lines.

_"Let me fill your heart with joy and laughter_  
><em>Togetherness, well that's all I'm after<em>  
><em>Whenever you need me, I'll be there<em>  
><em>I'll be there to protect you<em>  
><em>With an unselfish love I respect you<em>  
><em>Just call my name and I'll be there"<em>

_"Every street you walk on_  
><em>I leave tear stains on the ground<em>  
><em>Following the girl<em>  
><em>I didn't even want around<em>  
><em>Oh baby give me one more chance<em>  
><em>To show you that I love you<em>  
><em>Won't you please send me back in your heart<em>

_"Just look over your shoulders, honey, ooh_  
><em>I'll be there, I'll be there, whenever you need me, I'll be there<em>  
><em>Don't you know, baby, yeah yeah<em>  
><em>I'll be there, I'll be there, just call my name, I'll be there<em>  
><em>I'll be there, I'll be there"<em>

They sang the last two verses together, bringing the song to a close. Everyone—minus Finn—clapped when they finished and Rachel gave a little bow, smiling.

"Wow, I think that was the gayest thing I've ever seen," Santana finally said whenever everyone had calmed down.

"I concur," Kurt replied.

Rachel scoffed. "I do not agree. I don't think there was anything wrong with our performance."

"I never said there was anything wrong with it," Santana said, smirking.

"Judging by everyone's reaction, I think it's safe to declare that the winning performance," Mr. Schue announced.

"They can't perform that at Sectionals," Finn protested.

"And why not?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms.

"They're both girls," Finn said, motioning between Rachel and Quinn. "Everyone is going to think they're together or something."

"And why does that matter?" Santana asked, glaring at the boy.

"I can assure you, Finn, there is nothing wrong with the song," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips. "And if the judges make that assumption, then so be it. If no one else objects, I think we should do Jackson songs at the competition. Not just the Jackson Five, but Michael and Janet—maybe a song from each."

"For once I have to agree with Rachel," Mercedes said, smiling at her.

"Yeah, that'll be dope," Artie chimed in.

"Sounds good to me," Puck said, winking at her.

"Well it sounds like we have our winner and a plan for Sectionals!" Mr. Schue said excitedly. "Everyone go home and start coming up with ideas for the rest of the set list and we'll talk about it when we come back on Monday. Congratulations to Quinn and Rachel."

Everyone clapped and then started gathering their things. Finn started to walk up to Rachel, but she gave a him a look that made him quickly turn around and leave the room.

"I'll see you Monday," Quinn said to Rachel, who nodded but didn't say anything.

"Whoa, what happened to you two," Puck asked, coming up to her.

"It's nothing, Noah," Rachel lied. "Quinn and I just aren't quite over our issues, I guess."

"So, Jackson songs, huh," Puck said, grinning. "Whatever made you come up with that idea?"

Rachel smiled. "I figured it worked the first time, so why mess with our past success. Besides, last time I had to watch all of you perform it from the audience and I never got to participate. I won't make that mistake this time."

"Plus, Kurt doesn't really have any competition this time," Puck noted. "No need to stuff the box."

"Can we just ignore that lapse in judgment?" Rachel asked.

"Sure," Puck said, shrugging.

"Also, if I could ask you to back me up on Monday when I suggest doing Control and Man in the Mirror, that would be wonderful," Rachel added.

"You know no one will go for that," Puck stated.

Rachel frowned. "Why not?"

"Three songs that were all handpicked by you? You know Mercedes and Kurt will fight you on it," Puck replied.

"What do you suggest doing then?" Rachel asked.

"I'll bring up the guys going Man in the Mirror," Puck replied. "I can call some of the guys this weekend and get them on board, so there shouldn't be any problem with that."

"I guess I can work on getting some of the group to agree to Control," Rachel said. "But if that doesn't work, can you back me up."

Puck nodded, smirking. "If nothing else, I'll intimidate them until they agree."

"Then we shouldn't have any problem winning Sectionals again this year," Rachel said, nudging Puck. "Last year we didn't even have our best singers, so imagine it with all of us."

"Always the humble one," Puck joked.

"Who said I was referring to myself?" Rachel asked.

Puck looked at her. "Of course you were referring to yourself."

Rachel sighed and smiled. "Yeah, I was."

Rachel never thought she would find herself thinking it, but she was never so thankful to have Puck around. He made her feel less alone here and, like Santana, their blossoming friendship was one of the last things she had been expecting, but it was definitely a welcome surprise.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't be too mad at me for the fighting; as with everything else in my story, there is a reason for it.<strong>

**Now it's time to work on my other Faberry fic since I still haven't updated it since my little hiatus. I'll try to have another chapter of this up in a week, though.**

**As always, reviews are always appreciated and keep the writer happy.**


	10. Sorry's Not Good Enough

****MmiseryLovesSlash**: I did watch the finale and I both loved parts and hated parts. The Faberry bathroom scene was great, but I was pissed they had Quinn do a complete 180 about Finn and Rachel—although I liked the explanation that rophydoes gave. I thought the ending was perfect, though, and I loved that they sang You Get What You Give—Glee really needs to do more mid to late 90s songs.**

**skittles84: I'm a little frightened that you used the word 'bestie', but I just thought I would say that I probably don't thank you enough for catching my writing mistakes and allowing me to bounce my ideas off of you.**

**To everyone that's mentioned it (which is a lot of you): It will be a while before you find out what Finn whispered to Quinn. Hang in there, though, because everything will eventually be revealed.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 – Sorry's Not Good Enough<strong>

Rachel walked through the hall Monday morning looking for Quinn. The blonde had not been at the bleachers that morning even though she and Rachel had an unspoken agreement to meet there every Monday. Rachel was looking for her because she wanted to apologize for the way she had been acting. After thinking about it over the weekend, she realized she was being unfair and should hear Quinn out. She was still hurt by it, but Quinn at least deserved the chance to explain herself without Rachel interrupting her and storming out.

"Hey, Rach, can we talk?" Finn asked, interrupting Rachel's search for the blonde.

"I'm kind of occupied right now," Rachel said, not stopping as she addressed the boy.

"Please," he said, stepping in front of her, blocking her way.

"What is it, Finn?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on her hips, and hoping he would take the hint that this was not the time.

"I wanted to apologize," Finn said, staring at his feet. "I know I've been acting like a jerk lately and I'm sorry. I was hurt that you broke up with me and then you started changing and I felt like I was losing you again. You started hanging around with Santana and Quinn and I just reacted bad. They're always making fun of me and I just—I think they're up to something. All they've ever done was be mean to you and people like that don't change. I know you want them to be your friends, but they're not and they never will be."

"We broke up two months ago," Rachel stated. "You have to move on and you can't control who I'm friends with—not when we were together and not now—and I'm certainly not going to justify my friendships to you." Rachel started walking away but turned around to add, "And I'm not the one you should be apologizing to; Santana is the one you hurt most. I know she isn't always nice to you, but what you did was uncalled for and you seem to feel no remorse for it."

She turned on her heel and walked away before Finn could say anything else; she only had a few minutes to find Quinn before the bell rang and she didn't want to waste any more of her time on him. She quickly checked the auditorium and then walked to the choir room, but Quinn wasn't in either of them.

"Brittany!" Rachel yelled when she saw the other girl; she rushed over to her, bumping into a few students along the way, but quickly apologized to them. "Have you seen Quinn this morning?"

"She was at the bleachers this morning while San and me were at Cheerios practice, but she left," Brittany answered.

"Do you know where she went?" Rachel asked.

Brittany shook her head, shrugging. "She walked toward the school, so I'm guessing she's somewhere in here.

Rachel sighed. "Thanks."

"You won't find her," Brittany said, stopping Rachel from walking away.

"Why not?" Rachel asked, turning her head to look at the blonde.

"Sometimes Quinn doesn't want to be found," Brittany replied. "If she's like that, you'll never find her. She's good at hiding; even San hasn't been able to find her. I'm just letting you know that she'll let you find her when she wants to be found."

Rachel nodded. "Thank you; I guess I will just head to class then."

* * *

><p>Brittany had been correct; for the past two days, Quinn would miraculously show up to class just seconds before the bell rang and would be gone seconds after the bell rang, signaling the end of class, giving Rachel no time to talk to her. Rachel had still tried in vain to find her before accepting that Brittany must be right. Quinn didn't want to be found right now and Rachel would just have to be patient until she did.<p>

"Please tell me Finn isn't stupid enough to come over here?" Mercedes said, watching the boy walking closer to their lunch table.

"I'm pretty sure he's stupid enough to do anything," Santana said, smirking.

"Don't you think maybe we've been a bit harsh on him?" Tina asked.

"I agree with Tina," Mike chimed in.

"Of course you agree with her," Santana said, rolling her eyes and making a whipping motion with her hand.

"While I would normally agree—we have been a bit harsh—I am also inclined to believe that he deserves it in this instance," Kurt said, causing Mercedes, Artie and Blaine to nod in agreement.

"I just mean we're part of a team and we need to forgive him at some point," Tina replied.

"Has he apologized?" Kurt asked, turning his head to Santana.

"Not a damn word," Santana said, shaking her head.

"Santana?" Finn said, sounding unsure of himself.

"Finnept?" Santana mocked, not bothering to turn to look at Finn.

Finn huffed and looked at Rachel before turning back to the Cheerio. "Can we talk?"

"Well I can talk and you obviously can since you're speaking to me right now, which is weird because I thought you could only grunt," Santana replied.

"Do you always have to make things more difficult?" Finn asked. "I'm here to apologize."

"Do you think he heard us earlier?" Kurt whispered to Rachel.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was my job to make your life easy," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"No," Rachel whispered back. "Yesterday he tried apologizing to me for his behavior, but I told him I wasn't the one he needed to apologize to."

Everyone at the table was now watching Finn, seeing how he was going to react to Santana's verbal jabs. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I did, okay? It wasn't cool of me and I shouldn't have lost my temper, but you keep saying all this crap to me and it makes me so mad and you're still doing it! Can't you just like give me a break or something?"

Kurt rolled his eyes and whispered, "Way to apologize and simultaneously blame _her_ for his actions."

Santana clenched her jaw before whipping her head around, causing Finn to take a step back.

"Dude, you might want to go," Puck advised.

"Are we cool?" Finn asked Santana.

"You might want to work on the apology and try again," Santana spat.

"Why?" Finn asked. "I said I was sorry."

"And blamed me for what you did!" Santana loudly said. "I insult people; it's what I do. When I hurt your little feelings, insult me back, but you don't out someone in the middle of the hall! Call me a crazy bitch or something. I might even gain an ounce of respect for you for standing up for yourself, but don't tell everyone something so personal and then take no responsibility for it."

"It's just not fair; you've turned everyone against me," Finn said, waving his hand to indicate everyone at the table.

"I'm sorry, Finn, but that was your own doing," Kurt said. "You live with a gay step-brother—you of all people should know better. You've seen what happened to me at this school and yet you didn't think twice about what you did to Santana. I will never agree with the way Santana bullies people, but that doesn't make what you did any less wrong."

"But—"

"No," Kurt said, holding his hand up. "Try apologizing to her when you actually mean it."

Finn sighed and sulked away in silence, leaving everyone at the table looking at each other.

"You should say you're sorry too," Brittany said, looking at Santana. "You _were_ mean to him."

"Him first," Santana said, crossing her arms.

"So, what is everyone doing for Thanksgiving?" Tina asked and several people laughed at her obvious attempt to change the subject.

Thanksgiving was only two days away and today was their last day of school before their break. It was one of the reasons Rachel was so desperate to find Quinn; if she didn't see her by the end of the day, she wouldn't get a chance to talk to her until Monday and that was only if the blonde wasn't still hiding from her by then.

"Rachel?" Kurt asked, nudging her.

"What?" she asked, looking around to see a couple of her friends staring at her.

"I asked what you had planned for the break." Blaine replied.

"Oh," Rachel said, blushing a bit at the fact that she had been so zoned out. "My fathers and I always have Thanksgiving at home and then visit my Daddy's family on Friday and my Dad's family on Saturday. While I love getting to see my family, half of the time we're in the car, so it's always quite dull. Plus, everyone is either a lot older or younger than me, so I usually feel a bit out of place."

"Well, at least you don't have to have an awkward Thanksgiving dinner with Finn," Kurt said.

"When you put it like that, I guess it could be worse," Rachel said, smiling at her friend.

* * *

><p>"What's wrong, honey?" Hiram asked his daughter.<p>

Rachel just shrugged and continued moping around the kitchen.

"Cheer up, it's Thanksgiving," Leroy said, but Rachel just shrugged again.

Hiram and Leroy looked at each other; Leroy had his eyebrows raised and Hiram mouthed 'I don't know' to his husband. Rachel saw it, though, and sighed as she sat down on one of the stools.

"It's nothing," she said, hoping to stop their warring.

"If you say so, dear," Leroy replied.

"Would you do me a favor and drive to the store," Hiram asked. "I'm afraid I forgot the rolls for dinner."

"Okay," Rachel said, standing up. "I shouldn't be long."

Rachel walked to the front door and grabbed her keys from the hook. She didn't know if her fathers were just trying to get her out of the house or if they really had forgotten the rolls, but she didn't mind either way. She had been sulking around the house since Tuesday evening and it was probably starting to annoy her fathers even if they were used to her mood swings. She couldn't help it, though; she was worried that Quinn was never going to speak to her again and it scared her more than she thought it would.

She drove to the nearest supermarket and parked her car. She was surprised at how many people were actually at the store; maybe forgetting things for Thanksgiving dinner was a common occurrence, though. She walked through the automatic doors and made a beeline for the bread section. The shelves were quite sparse, but she found what she was looking for and grabbed it before anyone else could come along and steal it out from under her nose. She then walked to the checkout and paused when she saw familiar blonde hair one register over.

"Quinn?" she said, causing the other girl to turn around.

Quinn gave her a small smile and then turned back around, handing the cashier a few bills. She was handed back her change and started walking away, but Rachel sprinted around the rest of the customers in front of her to get to the other girl before she could get very far.

"Quinn, wait," Rachel said, running up to the blonde. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

Quinn laughed. "You were the one that has been ignoring me; I wasn't avoiding you, I was giving you space."

Rachel huffed. "Well, I've been trying to find you all week to apologize."

"Oh," Quinn said, sounding slightly hopeful.

"So, what are you doing at the store on Thanksgiving?" Rachel asked, looking at the plastic bag in Quinn's hand.

"I was trying to make a sandwich and realized we were out of bread," Quinn answered.

Rachel frowned. "Why are you having a sandwich on Thanksgiving?"

"It's just me at the house," Quinn replied. "My mother went to Illinois to spend the weekend with my sister and her husband."

"And she left you here all alone?" Rachel asked.

"My sister and I don't really get along very well," Quinn explained. "So I told my mother I would be fine here and talked her into going without me."

"So you're spending the holiday all alone?" Rachel asked and Quinn nodded in confirmation. "You're coming home with me, then."

"No, really, I'm fine," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Nonsense," Rachel replied. "You shouldn't be alone on Thanksgiving and my fathers always make more than enough food should a friend or family member unexpectedly stop by. Just let me pay for these rolls and we can be on our way."

"But—"

"No arguing with me; you know you won't win," Rachel said, smiling at the other girl.

Quinn sighed, but nodded. "Okay, I'll wait for you."

Rachel paid for the rolls as quickly as she could, worried that she would turn around and the blonde would be gone again, but the other girl stayed put. When she was done, she walked over to Quinn; since she had driven to the supermarket as well, they agreed that she would follow Rachel in her car. Rachel drove to her house, constantly glancing in the review mirror to make sure Quinn was still behind her; she kept expecting the blonde to turn her car the other way, but she pulled into her driveway and Quinn parked right behind her.

"Are you sure they don't mind?" Quinn asked as they were walking up the path to the front door.

"Of course not," Rachel replied.

She wasn't sure, but it didn't matter; her fathers loved her and wouldn't deny her the possibility of having a friend over, especially one that didn't really have anywhere else to go for the holiday.

"I'm back," Rachel said as she entered the house.

"Dinner should be ready in about an hour," Hiram called from the kitchen.

Rachel walked into to the kitchen; her Daddy was sitting at the island and her Dad was at the stove stirring something in a small pan. "Daddy, can you set an extra place at the table."

"Why?" he asked, frowning. "Do we have company?" He followed Rachel's gaze toward the hall and saw Quinn standing there. "Hello, Quinn."

"Hello, Sir," she said, stepping into the room. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"No, not at all," Leroy said, giving his husband a look that clearly said he better not contradict him.

"Quinn's mother went to visit her sister, so Quinn is all alone," Rachel said, looking between her fathers. "So I convinced her to have dinner with us."

Leroy smiled. "Well then, I will go set another place at the table."

* * *

><p>Dinner was always a lively event and Quinn seemed to enjoy it, which Rachel was thankful for. Hiram had behaved himself and Rachel thought he might be warming up to the blonde a little bit. After dinner they had watched Funny Girl—it's what they had been doing after Thanksgiving dinner since Rachel was four—and then everyone was tired so that they decided to go to bed early. Plus, they had long drive ahead of them in the morning, so they all needed to be up really early. When Quinn was getting ready to leave, Leroy insisted she stay the night; she was tired and was just going home to an empty house, so he didn't see the point in her driving home.<p>

"I'm sorry about this," Rachel said, rummaging through her drawers for something for Quinn to sleep in.

"It's fine," Quinn said, shrugging.

"It's hard to argue with Daddy sometimes," Rachel stated.

Quinn smirked. "I noticed that must be where you learned it from."

"And I'm sorry about the guest room," Rachel said, handing Quinn a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

Hiram has taken up a new hobby—and as it always was when he took up something new, the guestroom looked like a craft store had exploded in it. This time it was watercolors, so there were canvases with half-done paintings all over the room and no place to really sleep, which really defeated the purpose of a guestroom.

"I'm going to brush my teeth and get ready, so you can change in here if you would like," Rachel said before walking to the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

After doing her nightly routine, she walked out to find Quinn lying on top her bed. The clothes Rachel had given her were a bit small—okay, a lot small—and Rachel couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

Quinn rolled her eyes as soon as she heard the brunette's laughter. "I can't help that you're freakishly small and have already freakishly short shorts."

"Sorry," Rachel said, still smiling as she walked around the bed and got under the covers.

When she turned off the bedside lamp, the room was plunged into complete darkness. She felt Quinn sigh and shift beside her, getting under the covers as well.

"I'm sorry," Quinn whispered, turning so she was facing Rachel.

"What are you apologizing for?" Rachel asked, turning her head toward Quinn.

"For last week," Quinn answered. "For what I said in the bathroom. I was telling the truth when I said I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated and when I get frustrated, I get defensive and become a total bitch and I'm just— I'm really sorry." Quinn laughed lightly. "The funny thing is I actually like it about you; you care enough about your friends to want to know what's bothering them. I shouldn't have said that about not having friends—you've always had friends."

"I'm sorry too," Rachel said. "I was hurt and I overreacted. I shouldn't have ignored you like I did, but you know how stubborn I can be sometimes."

Quinn shook her head. "I deserved it."

"You deserved the chance to explain," Rachel stated. "I still mean what I said, though; saying you're sorry isn't always going to make everything better, so we need to work on not offending each other in the first place."

"I'll try, but offending people seems to be in my nature," Quinn quipped. "But I'll work on it."

"Are you ever going to tell me what was wrong in the first place?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed and Rachel felt her shift onto her back. "Would you be offended if I said I didn't want to talk about it?"

"No," Rachel replied. "I'm here, though, if you ever do want to."

"I know," Quinn said. "Night, Rachel."

"So I'm back to being Rachel now?" Rachel said, smiling, and receiving a light kick and laugh from Quinn. "Goodnight, Quinn."

* * *

><p>"Quinn, it's time to get up," Rachel said, trying to shake the other girl awake, but Quinn just groaned and buried her head further into the pillow; Rachel smiled and shook her again. "Come on, Quinn."<p>

"What time is it?" Quinn asked, cracking one eye open.

"A little past five," Rachel answered.

"Who the hell gets up at five in the morning?" Quinn asked, throwing the covers over her head.

Rachel laughed and pulled the covers off of her. "I do—or six depending on the morning, but usually five. Now get up"

"You're sadistic," Quinn mumbled.

Rachel shook her head. "Okay, fine, I'm going to go make breakfast, but when it's done, you have to get up, okay?"

"Okay," Quinn agreed, but it was muffled by her pillow and she already sounded like she was dozing off.

Rachel went down stairs to make breakfast, where her fathers were already awake and drinking coffee.

"Did you two sleep okay?" Leroy asked when he saw his daughter.

"I did, but Quinn is still asleep," Rachel replied.

Hiram kissed the top of her head. "We're leaving in an hour."

"I'm just going to make breakfast for Quinn and myself and then I will get ready," Rachel said, opening the refrigerator door.

Rachel went about making breakfast; right before she was done making her vegan pancakes, Quinn had walked into the room and Rachel smiled at her.

"And here I figured I would have to bribe you with food to get out of bed," she joked.

"I smelled coffee," Quinn said through a yawn.

"Help yourself," Leroy said, inclining his head toward the pot of coffee.

"Thanks," Quinn said, walking over to it.

"Pancakes are almost done," Rachel announced.

"Hiram and I were talking and we wanted to run something past you girls," Leroy said, looking between his daughter and Quinn. "We know Rachel doesn't usually have the best time at our little family gatherings and we were wondering if maybe Quinn would like to come with us. We don't know how long your mom is out of town, but if she's going to be gone all weekend, we thought you might like to tag along with us."

Quinn looked at Rachel, but the brunette just shrugged; they were both surprised by the invitation, but Rachel actually thought it was a wonderful idea.

"Do you want me to come?" Quinn asked.

"Sure," Rachel replied, smiling. "I mean—if you want to."

"Well, my mother isn't going to be back until Sunday," Quinn said, thinking about it. "It might be kind of nice not having to spend the whole weekend alone."

"Then it's settled," Leroy said, clapping his hands together.

An hour and a half later and the four of them were on the four and a half hour drive to Pennsylvania to visit Leroy's family. Rachel was already thankful that Quinn was with them; normally she and her fathers listened to show tunes and played some ridiculous made-up games that they had created when Rachel was a child. While Rachel did enjoy it on occasion, it was much nicer having a friend to talk to.

By the time they finally got to Pennsylvania and pulled up to Leroy's family's house, it was almost noon. Hiram and Leroy had been bickering in the front for the last twenty minutes, so Quinn and Rachel were happy to finally be able to get out of the car.

"You did not!" Hiram insisted.

"I did too," Leroy replied back.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Can you two stop?"

Quinn laughed and whispered to Rachel, "Your family is much more entertaining than mine."

"I swear they're like two fighting children sometimes," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Daddy, if you don't stop fighting with Dad, I'm going to tell your mother."

Leroy's mouth immediately snapped shut.

* * *

><p>"There's my granddaughter!" The woman rushed Rachel and wrapped her arms around the brunette.<p>

Rachel tensed a bit as she was engulfed by her grandmother's hug and felt like she was going to fall over. The car ride from Pennsylvania to Maryland had been long and her legs were still a bit numb, but quickly regained her balance, smiled, and returned the hug. The woman had died when Rachel was still at NYADA, so it was the first time she had seen her in nine years. "Hello, Grandma."

The older woman let go of Rachel to hug Leroy and then pulled Hiram into an even bigger hug. When she finally released him, she turned to Quinn and asked, "And who is this."

"This is Quinn, my friend," Rachel replied.

"Nice to meet you," Quinn said, sticking her hand out, but she too was pulled into a quick hug.

"You'll learn that the Berrys are hugging people," she said upon releasing the blonde. "We never shake."

"I guess that's where Rachel gets it from, then," Quinn said, smiling at the older woman.

"Come on," Rachel's grandmother put one arm around Leroy and one arm around Hiram. "Let's get in there before all the food is gone."

"And I thought yesterday was intense," Quinn said, walking beside Rachel, following behind the trio.

Rachel nodded. "The Berry side is even bigger and louder than Daddy's family."

When Quinn and Rachel walked in, they were hit with a wall of sound; everyone was greeting Rachel and asking who Quinn was. At some point a plate of food had been shoved in both of their hands and they made their way to the empty couch to eat.

"How do you deal with this every year?" Quinn asked as soon as she sat down.

"You get used to it," Rachel said, causing the woman on the nearby loveseat to laugh.

"And who is this?" she asked.

"Quinn, my cousin Rebecca; Rebecca, this is Quinn," Rachel said, motioning between them.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Rebecca asked.

Rachel blushed. "No, just a friend from school."

"Well, it was nice to meet you, but I'm going to get a slice of pie before it's all gone," Rebecca said as she stood up.

Quinn looked at Rachel and raised her eyebrow. "Why would she think I'm your girlfriend?"

Rachel shrugged. "Probably because you're the first person I've ever brought with me. You're not regretting coming with us, are you? I know everyone can be sort of nosy and that makes some people uncomfortable."

"No," Quinn said, smiling. "It's kind of nice, actually." Quinn looked around a smiled even wider. "My family is—they're the complete opposite of this. Whenever the Fabrays get together, it's subdued and cold. Everyone is trying to prove to each other that their family is the most successful or the most Christian or whatever. No one hugs, no one laughs unless they're gossiping about someone, and no one is happy to be there. This, though—this is nice. You're lucky to have a family that actually loves you."

"I'm sure your family loves you," Rachel said, frowning at Quinn's statement.

"If they ever did, they don't now," Quinn replied. "Getting pregnant at sixteen—that shamed the entire Fabray clan and it's something they will never forgive me for." Quinn looked at Rachel and gave her a small smile. "It's okay, Rachel; you don't have to look at me like that."

"Sorry," Rachel said, averting her eyes.

"I was never close enough to my family to really miss them when they were gone," Quinn explained. "I've learned over the last few years that blood doesn't mean much; it's the family you make that really seems to count. Everyone in Glee—we're a family. We're not forced to love each other, but we do anyway."

"Even Finn?" Rachel asked, grinning.

"He's that idiot cousin that likes to ask everyone to pull his finger," Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel laughed loudly, which happened a lot throughout the rest of the day. The Berry clan stayed up late singing karaoke, which Rachel totally trounced everyone at; playing Monopoly, which Rachel accused everyone of cheating at; and playing charades, which Quinn and Rachel nearly beat Hiram and Leroy at.

Rachel was exhausted by the time she got into bed, but she was having a hard time getting comfortable. She and Quinn were sharing a twin air mattress on the floor of the living room and Rachel couldn't stop tossing and turning.

"Will you quit," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "This thing is far too small for you to be doing that."

Rachel sighed. "Sorry."

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked after a few moments of silence.

"I can't get comfortable," Rachel replied, turning once again.

"I can sleep on the floor," Quinn offered.

Rachel shook her head. "It's not that."

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked. "This bed is awfully small."

"Yes," Rachel replied. "I promise I'll stop moving, okay?"

Rachel was still for about two minutes, but then she started turning again.

"Rachel!" Quinn said, laughing.

"Sorry!" Rachel said, laughing as well.

"Will you two both shut up!" Rebecca's voice came from across the room.

"Sorry," Quinn and Rachel said together.

* * *

><p>When Rachel stepped out of the car the next day, she felt like kissing the ground; a nine hour car ride was not an enjoyable experience. She had tried to sleep, but her mind seemed to be all over the place. It was dark by the time they pulled into their driveway and Rachel was the first one out of the car, stretching her whole body.<p>

"I never want to do that again," Quinn said, getting out right behind her.

"That makes two of us," Rachel replied. "Thank you for coming, though; I had a lot more fun than I usually do. Being with my family usually isn't bad, but the car ride is what I always hate. It was nice having you to talk to"

Quinn smiled. "I had fun too; definitely more than I would have by myself."

Rachel watched her fathers walk along the path to the door; both of them looked like she felt. "Do you want to come in?"

"I should get going," Quinn said. "My mother is back; she called while we were at the last gas station and was wondering where I was."

"You didn't tell her you were going?" Rachel asked.

"I didn't really see a point," Quinn said, shrugging. "She wasn't going to be here to miss me."

"Well then, I guess I will see you tomorrow morning," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn's hand, pulling her toward her, and into a hug. "You are going to be at the bleachers, right? You're not going to start avoiding me again?"

Rachel felt Quinn shake her head and then sigh. "I'll be there."

"Good," Rachel said, giving Quinn's shoulders a squeeze before letting go.

"Thank you for this weekend," Quinn whispered and Rachel felt the blonde press a light kiss to her cheek.

Rachel didn't know why, but she found herself blushing. "It was my pleasure."

"Night, Rach." Quinn smiled at Rachel before leaning down to grab her bag, which Leroy had set by the car for her; she walked over to her car and threw her bag in the passenger seat after opening her door. Rachel watched a she started the car and slowly started backing down the drive. When she got to the street, Rachel gave her a wave and Quinn returned it with a smile. Rachel watched until she could barely see the car's brake lights and then finally turned on her heel to go inside.

"Did Quinn go home," Leroy asked as soon as Rachel entered the house.

"Yeah, her mom is back," Rachel said, walking into the living room and plopping down between her fathers.

"You'll have to bring her around some more," Leroy said, smiling.

"Yeah?" Rachel asked, turning her head to look at her Dad.

"Yeah," Hiram agreed.

"And here I thought you hated her," Rachel said, smiling.

Hiram huffed. "She's not entirely unpleasant." He looked at his daughter and slowly smiled. "Fine, I like her. She's a nice young lady and not at all what I was expecting from the girl that bullied you for years. You can tell she really cares about you and how can I possibly hate someone with such good taste?"

Rachel smiled and snuggled into her Dad's side. "Thank you for giving her a chance."

Hiram looked over Rachel's head at Leroy and smiled. "I got the feeling I was going to be seeing a lot more of her, so it was better to embrace it than to fight it. Besides, at least she can carry on a conversation, unlike that last boyfriend of yours."

"I do like having her around more than Finn," Leroy nodded in agreement.

"And she didn't even complain about the vegan food," Hiram added.

"What we're trying to say is that we very much approve of your friendship with Quinn," Leroy said, looking into Rachel's eyes. "She's welcome here anytime."

Rachel smiled and sighed in contentment.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope this chapter didn't bounce around too much, but the chapter would have gone on forever if I had included everything from their weekend.<strong>

**Reviews and comments are always appreciated and usually keep me happy, entertained, and motivated, so feel free to leave one.**


	11. The Way You Watch Me

**I wasn't supposed to post this until Tuesday, but I got it done really early and everyone was so good about reviewing the last chapter that I decided to post it now. See—those reviews are for the benefit of everyone ;).**

**love-for-eva: I take it you enjoyed the scene. It was fun getting her to write it and I have several texts that will forever be saved in my phone from our conversations during the whole ordeal.**

**mixtapesandcellmates: It's one of the things that annoys me most about the show. I actually don't hate Finn even though you might think it from my story, but I hate what the writers did to him and how they don't make him own up to anything.**

**Whispering Molly: Your reviews always leave a smile on my face so I just wanted to thank you. Also, I really loved your BlackThroated Green Warbler story and was surprised when I saw you commenting on mine.**

**And thank you to everyone else. I read and love every single one of your reviews and I wish I could comment on all of them, but commenting to 30+ people would be too much. Hell, this was probably too much and you're wishing I would shut up right now, so I will.**

**Enjoy…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11 – The Way You Watch Me<strong>

Rachel walked into the choir room and waved to Quinn before sitting down between Puck and Kurt. She was sitting directly in front of the blonde, who was flanked by Santana and Mercedes. The first bell hadn't rung yet and the girls didn't get the chance to meet at the bleachers as planned since Finn had called an emergency Glee club meeting; no one really wanted to be there, but none of them wanted a lecture from Mr. Schue on commitment and teamwork.

"So, how was everyone's break," Rachel cheerfully asked after sitting down. She looked around to everyone in the room and noticed that everyone was decidedly less cheerful looking than her.

Puck grunted. "Too short."

"Tense," Kurt replied. "But I already told you all about it last night."

Rachel nodded; she had heard Kurt's entire story when he called her Sunday night. Finn had been pouting all break; Kurt finally snapped at the dinner table and told him to get over himself. He was then grounded for the rest of the weekend even though he didn't think it was very fair. While she did not approve of the timing of Kurt's outburst, she did agree that his parents were being unfair in punishing him.

"I went over to Britt's family since mine doesn't really do the whole Thanksgiving thing," Santana said, shrugging.

"My mom tried to fix duck instead of turkey, so I set him free," Brittany answered.

Rachel looked to Santana, but the other girl shrugged and Rory added, "But dinner was still wonderful; it was my first Thanksgiving."

"My family drove to Columbus to have dinner at my Mamaw's," Mercedes said, smiling. "Did you end up going to Illinois?" Mercedes nudged her shoulder into Quinn's.

"No," Quinn replied, briefly shaking her head.

"Why didn't you call?" Mercedes asked. "I told you there was more than enough room for you to come with us. My parents wouldn't have had any problem with you spending Thanksgiving with us."

"I spent the weekend with Rachel," Quinn said, receiving a few shocked looks—mostly from Mercedes and Finn.

It was common knowledge that Rachel and Quinn had some unexpected friendship going on, but it still seemed to surprise people to hear that Quinn had willingly spent time with the brunette. Rachel didn't know it was so shocking, though, and was always slightly insulted and hurt by their behavior.

"All weekend?" Mercedes asked, appearing to get over the shock of Quinn's news.

Quinn nodded. "She invited me to dinner and being Rachel, wouldn't take no for an answer." Quinn gave Rachel a smile as if letting her know she wasn't insulting her. "I stayed the night since it was late and then they asked if I wanted to go with them for the weekend, so I went." Quinn shrugged and then smiled to herself. "It was fun; Rachel's family is really nice and it was actually the best time I've ever had during a holiday."

"Seriously?" Puck asked, receiving a slap on the leg from Rachel. "I mean—that's cool."

Rachel rolled her eyes when Puck grinned at her. "Quinn and I had a wonderful time together; I don't know why all of you sound so surprised by that information. You know we're friends now."

"Yeah, but there's being friends and then there's being friends that take holiday road trips together," Mercedes said. "It's cool, though." She looked at Quinn and scratched her head. "Just surprising."

"Don't listen to them," Blaine said, leaning forward to look around Kurt. "We're all happy you and Quinn have finally put aside your differences."

Mike and Tina nodded in agreement and Artie added, "You two fighting was getting old."

Rachel turned to see Finn scowling at Quinn from his seat at the edge of the room; he was slouched in his seat with his arms folded across his chest, not looking happy. Rachel decided to ignore it and turned around in time to see Mr. Schue walk into the room. He looked around, Rachel assumed to make sure everyone was in the room, and then stepped in front of the class.

"Alright guys, Tuesday after school Finn came up to me and asked if we could have this meeting before school," Mr. Schue began. "He had a great idea for this week's assignment, so I'll let him step up here and explain it to you guys."

Will took a seat and Finn walked over to the board, grabbed a black marker, and wrote 'lady music week' on the small whiteboard.

"Not again," Puck said, shaking his head.

"Why is he doing this?" Rachel whispered to him.

"I don't know," Puck replied. "She knows we're all behind her—that's obvious." He looked at everyone sitting around Santana and then at Finn's seat, which was separate from everyone else. "Wasn't last time about him wanting her to know we're all with her and not wanting her to hurt herself or some crap?"

"Well, at least this time you're not going to see a song to _my_ mother," Rachel whispered harshly.

"Can we pretend that never happened," Puck asked, shrinking slightly under Rachel's glare.

"I was wrong when I said what I said in the hall," Finn said, standing in front of everyone. "I was just mad that you were insulting me and I stepped over the line. I can't take back what I did, but I can try and make up for it. I've been seeing a lot about how gay kids are killing themselves and I wanted you to know that every single one of us are behind you, including me."

Santana scoffed. "Are you crazy? I'm not going to hurt myself, Bibendum."

Rachel frowned and tilted her head for a moment and then turned back to look at Santana. "Bibendum?"

"It's the Michelin Man," Santana whispered, rolling her eyes.

"How do you know that?" Rachel asked. "Do you just look up names to insult people with?"

"She does," Brittany confirmed. "She actually keeps them in this little notebook and—"

"Britt!" Santana said, clamping her hand over the blonde's mouth. "Remember how we talked about keeping certain things private."

"That was one of them?" Brittany mumbled behind Santana's hand.

Santana nodded, released Brittany, and then turned back to Finn. "Listen, this is not necessary. It's been a month; I'm fine and will kick anyone's ass that tries to say anything to me."

"Still, I think it would be good for us to sing music that was created by ladies and for ladies," Finn said. "This is my apology to you and my way of honoring you this week."

"Well, I think it's a wonderful idea," Mr. Schue said, standing up, and clapping Finn on the back.

Finn beamed at Rachel as he said, "Thanks, Mr. Schue."

"And now we see why he's really doing this," Puck whispered.

"What? Why?" Rachel asked.

"He wants you back," Puck replied.

Rachel scoffed. "That is _not_ happening."

"Maybe not, but he isn't doing this as an apology to Santana; he's doing it as a way for _you_ to forgive him."

Rachel looked at Finn and could see what Puck meant; Finn kept looking at her and giving her what he probably thought were charming smiles. She sighed and looked back at Santana, but she was talking to Brittany and completely ignoring what was going on at the front of the room. Rachel caught sight of Quinn, though, who was scowling at Finn.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"Peachy," Quinn replied.

"I would like everyone to spend the rest of the day thinking of songs they would like to sing for this week's assignment," Will said, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "Finn has already prepared something for today's meeting, so we have that to look forward to after school."

The bell rang and everyone stood up to gather their things, preparing to head for their first period classes. Rachel sighed as she grabbed her bag, noticing that Finn was heading in her direction. Before he could get to her, though, Quinn had stepped in between Rachel and Finn, effectively stopping his pursuit.

"Can I walk you to class?" Quinn asked, much to Rachel's surprise and Finn's obvious annoyance if the look on his face was anything to go by.

"Sure," Rachel said, giving her a thankful smile.

Finn huffed as they walked by and Rachel noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Quinn was smirking.

"You had that look of 'oh no, Finn is coming to talk to me' so I thought I would save you," Quinn finally explained when they were far enough away from the choir room for Finn to not overhear them.

Rachel smiled. "Noah thinks he's doing this because he's trying to win me over; he thinks that's what this assignment is really all about."

"And what do you think?" Quinn asked.

"I'm not positive, but I hope Noah is wrong," Rachel replied. "I have made my feelings perfectly clear to Finn and he should know that there is no possibility of us rekindling any type of romance. I told him we could be friends, but I don't even see a possibility of that anymore; not after the way he's been behaving."

"So, there's no chance you're going to get back together with him?" Quinn asked.

"What makes you think there would be?" Rachel asked, turning to look at the blonde.

Quinn shrugged. "Given your guys' track record—well, it wouldn't be the first time you broke up and started dating again."

"I know, but just trust me when I say it is not going to happen this time," Rachel replied. "We've had our time and it's never going to happen again."

"Is there any specific reason why this time is different than the last?" Quinn gently asked.

"There are many reasons," Rachel said, shrugging. "Mostly, I realized he isn't the one for me. A long time ago, I thought he was, but I know better now. I want someone who's going to support me and my dreams. I want someone who isn't going to hold me back and I know he's not that person." Rachel sighed. "Thank you for walking me to class, Quinn."

"Yeah, you might want to get into your class before you're late," Quinn quietly said, smiling. "I'll see you at lunch, Rach."

Rachel watched as Quinn walked down the hall; when the blonde got to the end, she briefly turned around and locked eyes with her. Quinn gave her a shy smile and then rounded the corner. Rachel took a deep breath, smiled to herself, and walked into her class right before the bell sounded.

* * *

><p>"Hey, guys," Finn said, bringing his lunch tray up to the table.<p>

It was the first time he had sat with them in weeks. His plan for this week's assignment seemed to sway several people over to his side and no one really put up a fuss when he sat his tray down next to Rachel. Santana still seemed annoyed by his presence and Quinn had her eyes narrowed at him, though. Puck and Rachel locked eyes from opposite ends of the table and Puck just shrugged at her.

When he sat beside Rachel, she noticed Quinn stiffen. Rachel eyed her curiously and tilted her head as she watched the girl across from her; she couldn't figure out why the blonde hated Finn so much. She had always seemed to tolerate him, but now she seemed to actively hate him and make it known and Rachel couldn't figure out what was different between the first time around and now. She wanted to ask her, but it would probably be one of those things that Quinn didn't want to talk about so she hadn't even bothered asking her yet.

"How are you?" Finn asked, turning his head toward Rachel.

"I'm fine, Finn," Rachel said with a nod.

"Great," Finn said, smiling at her; she was looking at Finn but could see Quinn rolling her eyes.

"So, do you plan on singing something this week?" Finn asked as he shook his milk carton.

"I haven't really decided yet," Rachel said, shrugging.

"I think it would be nice if you did," Finn replied. "You know, since you and Santana are friends now. It will be nice for her to know that you support her and everything."

"Santana knows I support her," Rachel tersely said. "She doesn't need me to sing a song to tell her that, but I will still think about it and let you know what I decide."

"Cool," Finn said, looking pleased with himself.

"What, not going to ask how the rest of us are doing or ask us if we're going to sing a song to Santana?" Quinn asked.

Finn looked at Quinn and seemed to narrow his eyes slightly before tensely asking, "How are you?"

"I'm wonderful," Quinn gritted out. "Although, I would be better if you weren't so obviously doing this whole thing to get back in everyone's good graces and get back with Rachel."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Finn replied.

"Don't play stupid," Quinn said, dropping her fork onto her tray. "You know exactly what you're doing and it's obvious, so quit pretending this is about apologizing to Santana. Once again, it's all about you and what you want."

"You're paranoid, Quinn," Finn said, shaking his head. "The only thing this is about is making up for what I did. I'm trying to show how sorry I am and I really wish you would give me a second chance."

Quinn rolled her eyes and stood up, walking off, and leaving her tray behind. Santana stood up to go after her, but Rachel put her hand on the other's girl's arm.

"I'll go after her," Rachel murmured.

"Why are you running after her?" Finn asked as soon as he saw Rachel standing up.

"Because we're friends, Finn," Rachel said as she walked away.

By the time Rachel got into the hall, she couldn't see Quinn anywhere. Since she couldn't possibly have enough time to get very far, Rachel checked the nearest bathroom, which was only several yards away.

"Quinn, are you in here?" Rachel asked, noticing that one of the stall doors was closed.

"Yeah," Quinn replied.

Rachel leaned against the wall. "Are you okay?"

The door to the middle stall opened and Quinn came out, sighing. "Yeah."

"Why did you storm off like that?" Rachel asked, taking several steps toward the blonde.

"Finn just—he makes me so angry sometimes," Quinn replied. "He pretends like he doesn't know what he's doing and then expects everyone to forgive him for everything because of it. He did it with you a million times; he would be the world's worst boyfriend and then expect you to forgive him because he didn't really know what he was doing and it's bullshit."

"Quinn!" Rachel said, having never really heard the girl swear that much before.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's not like you've never heard the word before."

"Not out of your mouth," Rachel said, smiling.

"I just think he manipulates people and I'm tired of it," Quinn said, shrugging.

"So—is that why you glare at him so much?" Rachel asked.

Quinn sighed and looked down. "Partly."

"And the other part?" Rachel asked.

"Other things," Quinn said, looking at Rachel with an almost questioning look.

Rachel laughed. "Must you always be so vague?"

"Maybe," Quinn said before her face broke out into a smirk.

"So I take it you won't be singing a song for this week's special assignment," Rachel said, turning her back to the mirrors so she could lean again the sink.

"Actually, I plan on singing a song tomorrow," Quinn replied.

"Oh?" Rachel said, raising her eyebrows. "What song do you plan on singing?"

"You'll just have to be patient," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel huffed; being patient was never one of her most known qualities. "Am I ever going to be able to get anything out of you?"

"Maybe you just need to find the right way to do it," Quinn said, smirking at her.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but then cocked her head and frowned at Quinn's statement.

"Anyway, since I don't really feel like going back to the cafeteria and it might be weird staying in the bathroom for the rest of the lunch period, would you want to go to the choir room?" Quinn asked. "Unless you want to get back."

Rachel shook her head. "The choir room is fine."

"Great," Quinn said, pausing to allow Rachel to get in front of her.

"Any chance I will get a sneak peak of tomorrow's performance?" Rachel asked, looking back as they walked out of the bathroom.

Quinn laughed. "Be patient, Rachel."

"Fine," Rachel said, sighing. "But it was worth a try."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Berry," Santana said, walking into the choir room.<p>

"Hello, Santana," Rachel said. "You're early."

Santana shrugged. "I wanted to ask you something, actually. Since you're Quinn's bestest new friend, I was wondering if you knew what hell is up with her lately? Every day I think she's going to rip Finnept's head off and take it to the zoo to feed to a bear or something."

"Honestly, Santana, I have no idea," Rachel said, shaking her head. "His mere presence just seems to annoy her lately."

"You haven't asked her about it?" Santana asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Of course I asked, but she wouldn't say what was wrong," Rachel replied. "If you haven't noticed, she isn't exactly the most open person. Usually when I inquire about personal matters, she either tells me she doesn't want to talk about it, is very vague with her answer, or just flat out ignores that I asked anything to begin with."

"It's weird," Santana frowning. "I haven't seen her like this since—well, since you."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"When you were trying to steal Finn away from her sophomore year," Santana clarified. "She glared at you a lot. It makes me think of that, which is weird."

"Are you saying she's jealous?" Rachel asked.

Santana shrugged. "Just making an observation."

"You could ask her," Rachel suggested.

Santana scoffed. "And have the bitch bite my head off? No thanks; I'll leave that one to you."

Rachel rolled her eyes and watched as the rest of the Glee members filed in, one by one. Quinn was the last to arrive and Mr. Schue closed the door behind her.

"Alright, who has something prepared for us today?" he asked as soon as he got to the front of the group.

"I do, Mr. Schue," Quinn said, standing up.

"Well, that's wonderful," he said, stepping aside to give the floor to Quinn.

Quinn walked over to the piano, but stopped next to the bench and faced the group. "I wanted to do this to show you how proud I am that you finally started being honest with everyone—even if it wasn't quite your choice." Quinn gave an annoyed look in Finn's direction before moving her eyes back to Santana. "We listened to this a lot while we were freshman and I thought I would sing it to you today. And someone told me not too long ago that I need to play the piano more, so here I go." She let out a small laugh and gave Rachel a quick smile before sitting down.

"_All of these lines across my face  
><em>_Tell you the story of who I am  
><em>_So many stories of where I've been  
><em>_And how I got to where I am  
><em>_But these stories don't mean anything  
><em>_When you've got no one to tell them to  
><em>_It's true, I was made for you"_

Rachel didn't know the song, but she looked at Santana, who had a huge grin on her face, and Brittany, who was beside her looking equally as happy. Clearly it was a song that meant something to the three of them.

"_I climbed across the mountain tops  
><em>_Swam all across the ocean blue  
><em>_I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules  
><em>_And baby I broke them all for you  
><em>_Oh because even when I was flat broke  
><em>_You made me feel like a million bucks  
><em>_You do and I was made for you"_

Rachel was in awe as Quinn's fingers glided effortlessly across the keys and she suddenly couldn't seem to take her eyes off the blonde. As she continued watching her, she unexpectedly found tears threatening to come. She didn't know what it was, but Quinn had her entranced. Maybe it was because Quinn seemed so free when she was a singing and playing, but whatever it was, it was mesmerizing.

Quinn took her eyes off the piano and turned her head, giving Santana a lopsided smile. Rachel quickly glanced at Santana, who had a similar smile; when she looked back, though, she locked eyes with the blonde. Quinn's hazel eyes seemed to bore into her and the two held their gaze as Quinn started singing again.

"_You see the smile that's on my mouth  
><em>_It's hiding the words that don't come out  
><em>_And all of our friends who think that I'm blessed  
><em>_They don't know my head is a mess  
><em>_No, they don't know who I really am  
><em>_And they don't know what I've been through like you do  
><em>_And I was made for you"_

Rachel was vaguely aware that someone had nudged her left side, but she still couldn't tear her eyes away from Quinn's.

"_All of these lines across my face  
><em>_Tell you the story of who I am  
><em>_So many stories of where I've been  
><em>_And how I got to where I am  
><em>_Oh but these stories don't mean anything  
><em>_When you've got no one to tell them to  
><em>_It's true, I was made for you  
><em>_Oh yeah and it's true, that I was made for you"_

When she finished the last note, everyone started loudly clapping and Brittany jumped out of her seat, running up to Quinn, and pulling her into a hug. Santana wasn't far behind and Brittany pulled her girlfriend into a group hug.

"That was wonderful!" Mr. Schue said and everyone else murmured in agreement.

"That was pretty badass," Puck said, nodding toward her.

"You were amazing," Rachel said as soon as Quinn had made her way over to her.

"Thank you," Quinn said, blushing and giving her a shy smile.

Finn huffed and stood up. "I also have another song I would like to sing."

Rachel only half listened to what Finn was singing; she was too busy glancing over at Quinn to really pay attention. Every time she would look at Finn, she would think about what she had just seen Quinn do and it couldn't compare. Where Quinn's performance was beautiful and heartfelt, Finn's was just awkward. He kept looking at Rachel to see if she was paying attention and after the fourth time, she rolled her eyes. Toward the end of his performance, Rachel could feel two sets of eyes on her: Finn and Quinn's. She ignored the fact that Finn was staring at her again and looked to her right. Quinn appeared to be studying her, but quickly turned away as soon as Rachel looked at her.

When Finn finished, Rachel absentmindedly started clapping with the rest of the group, but her eyes never left Quinn. She did notice that everyone seemed far less exacted about his performance than Quinn's, though.

"How was I?" Finn asked.

"Fine," Rachel automatically replied.

Rachel finally looked away from Quinn when Mr. Schue started speaking; since no one else had prepared anything, he gave them a short lecture on participation and then dismissed them.

"She's amazing isn't she," Puck wistfully said as he watched Quinn walking across the room.

Rachel smiled. "She is."

"I just hope she realizes it one of these days," Puck said, shaking his head. "She's always been so hard on herself to be perfect and never realized that she is perfect." Puck sighed and looked at Rachel. "I hope when the right person comes along, they'll make her see what the rest of us see."

"You love her, don't you?" Rachel asked, but she didn't need him to confirm it; she already knew the answer.

"I do," Puck replied. "But I'm not the one that's going to make her see how special she is."

"How do you know?" Rachel asked. "You're here for a reason—maybe it's to get your happy ending."

Puck shook his head. "I wish that's why I was here, but I think I'm here to make sure _she_ gets her happy ending."

"You don't know that, Noah," Rachel replied. "Maybe you're both here to get your happy ending together."

Puck smiled sadly. "Maybe—"

Puck shrugged his backpack higher on to his shoulder and walked out of the room, leaving Rachel alone. Rachel walked over to the piano and ran her hand along the smooth surface. Sighing, she sat down on the bench and furrowed her brows. She didn't know why, but she couldn't get Quinn's performance out of her head or the look in Quinn's eyes as she stared at her. Quinn had looked at her with such intensity that she had never seen from her before and it made Rachel wonder how long she had been looking at her like that. She wasn't going to dwell on it, though, since she was probably just imagining thing, so Rachel shook her head at the thought and finally left the room.

* * *

><p>"First of all, congratulations to Kurt, your senior class president," Mr. Schue said, leaving the group in a round of applause. "And I would also like you to extend a congratulations to your father from all of us."<p>

"I will let him know," Kurt said, nodding and smiling.

Rachel put her hand over Kurt's and gave it a squeeze as she smiled at the boy. "I knew you could do it."

"Thank you for everything," Kurt said, squeezing her hand back.

"As we all know, Sectionals is next weekend, so I want everyone coming up with ideas for our performances," Mr. Schue said. "We've got an amazing set list and I think we're going to crush the competition this year!" Mike and Brittany both cheered and Rachel couldn't help but smile. "Next week is going to be a lot of hard to work, so I want everyone to rest up this weekend and be prepared to work when we come back."

"Do you think we'll ever have our performance down more than a couple hours before the competition?" Kurt said, rolling his eyes.

"No," Rachel said, shaking her head; she never understood her teacher's insistence on waiting until the last minute. Practice made perfect, so it was hard to be perfect when they always waited until the last minute to learn their routine or sometimes even what their set list was going to be.

"Now, Santana has asked to say something to you all," Mr. Schue said, motioning to her.

Santana walked to the front of the room. "I just wanted to thank you all. I know I give you a lot of crap, but most of you mean a lot to me." She looked at Brittany and Quinn and then, much to Rachel's surprise, her. "While this whole week was completely unnecessary, it was still sort of nice. Although, if you ever tell anyone I said any of this, I will deny it and then kick your ass." Several people laughed and Santana smiled. "Yesterday I finally came out to my parents; they actually weren't all that surprised and were very supportive. I plan on telling my abuela tonight, so all the people that I care about most will know. Since you all have been singing songs to me this week, I figured I should sing one of my own."

As soon as Santana started singing, Rachel turned to Puck and whispered, "Do you think I should talk her out of it."

Puck shrugged. "It didn't exactly go well last time."

"She was crushed last time," Rachel stated. "To have one of the most important people in your life reject you—I don't want her to go through that again."

"So talk to her," Puck said.

"What do you think I should say?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," Puck replied. "You're the one that's good with words and stuff. You've managed to get this far, this shouldn't be any different than what you've already done."

Rachel watched as Santana sang the rest of her song and clapped with the rest of the group. She smiled brightly when the other girl looked her way and Santana winked at her. She sat there the rest of the period trying to come up with the best tactic to talk to Santana. When Glee ended, Rachel walked up to her and asked, "Can we talk for a second."

"Wait for me, Britt," Santana gently said to her girlfriend.

Brittany gave Santana a kiss on the cheek and then reached out and squeezed Rachel's hand as she walked by. "See you tomorrow, Rach."

"What is it, Berry?" Santana asked, turning to her.

"It's about what you said earlier," Rachel said, smoothing her skirt out to sit down. "I think it's wonderful that you finally had the courage to tell your parents about you and Brittany, but how is your grandmother going to feel about it? From what you've told me, she's very traditional and I don't want you to be hurt if she doesn't react the way you would like."

Santana sighed and sat down beside her. "I know it's a very real possibility. She is a very proud and traditional woman and I just hope she loves me like I think she does. I know it's a risk, but she's one of the most important people in my life and I can't hide it from her anymore, even if it might mean losing her."

Rachel nodded; if this was important to Santana, she wasn't going to push any farther. "You can call me if you need to talk tonight."

"I know, Berry," Santana said. "Now, enough of this sentimental shit. Britts and I has got to get our mack on before my parents get home. They've set up rules now," Santana rolled her eyes, "as if that's going to stop us."

"Good luck tonight," Rachel said.

Santana waved without turning around and Rachel sighed as soon as she was out of the room. Santana was doing so well and Rachel hoped tonight didn't make her backtrack any. She didn't want to see her hurt again, but it wasn't her decision to make. She could only be there to help with the fallout.

* * *

><p><strong>The song Quinn sang was The Story by Brandi Carlile.<strong>

**Please take a second to leave a review; I always love reading your comments and they keep me happy and motivated. Plus, they're the only way I know how I'm doing since I don't think my best friend will tell me if I start to suck.**


	12. You're Amazing

**Well, I wasn't planning on updating today, but holy crap! Way to shatter my old record for the most reviews for a chapter.**

**Nightlancer600: You do get one!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12 – You're Amazing<strong>

"Santana's in the bathroom," Brittany stated, causing Rachel to jump and nearly hit her head against her locker in surprise; sometimes Brittany seemed to just pop up out of nowhere, nearly giving Rachel a heart attack.

"Oh, that's nice, Brittany?" Rachel said, frowning.

"She won't tell you because she doesn't want anyone to know about it, but her grandmother hurt her feelings," Brittany said, looking at Rachel with such sadness that it made Rachel want to close her eyes so she didn't have to see it. "She doesn't ever want to talk to San again and she's pretending it didn't hurt her but I know it did."

Rachel nodded in understanding. "I'll go see how she's doing, okay?"

"She'll talk to you," Brittany said, nodding. "It's like you have some kind of magical talking power."

Rachel smiled and gave Brittany's arm a reassuring squeeze as she walked past. She suddenly realized she didn't know what bathroom Brittany was referring to, so she turned around to ask her, but Brittany was pointing down the hall and mouthing 'there'. She nodded to the blonde and went to the bathroom she was referring to. When she walked in, Santana was sitting on the edge of one of the sinks with her feet swinging.

"That's probably not the most sanitary place to sit," Rachel noted, causing a small smile to grace Santana's lips.

"I'm pretty sure I'll live, Berry," Santana said, shaking her head.

Rachel walked over to the sink next to Santana's and jumped up so she was sitting on it. "Ugh," she looked back in disgust, "I think this one was wet." Rachel sighed and looked at Santana, who was still swinging her feet. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"She told me she never wants to see me again," Santana answered without hesitation. "She made me leave her house because I'm shaming the family and before I left, she told me I was no longer her granddaughter."

Rachel closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I should have listened to you," Santana said; she was quiet for a moment and then actually started laughing. "I can't believe I just said I should have listened to Rachel Berry. Is the ground going to open up and spew demons now?" Santana pretended to look around the floor and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I think you're safe," Rachel said, shaking her head at the other girl's antics.

"You don't take me seriously, do you?" Santana suddenly asked, looking over at her.

Rachel furrowed her brows and gave her a questioning look. "About what?"

"I tease you," Santana said, shrugging. "I know in the past I hurt you; I was a total bitch to you back then, but you don't take me seriously now, do you?"

Rachel slowly smiled. "You're worried that you're hurting me."

"Well—yeah," Santana admitted.

"I appreciate the concern, but I know you're just joking around," Rachel replied. "Once upon a time, you were not, but I know you are now. I mean, we're friends, right? You tease your friends and it's okay. I can tell the differences between the things you say to me and the things you say to—oh say someone like Finn."

"I do hate tubbers pretty bad," Santana said, nodding her head.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Rachel finally opened her mouth and asked, "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Santana said, hanging her head. "I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't suck because it does, but I have a lot of other people in my life and that's a lot more than other people can say. Maybe one day she'll come around, but I'm not going to let it make me feel ashamed. I love Britt and nothing is going to change that or ever make me ashamed of that again. I'm done pretending and everyone else can kiss my ass if they have a problem with it."

"Good, now get out there because Brittany is worried about you," Rachel said, reaching over and pushing Santana off the sink and into her feet.

"And we're friends," Santana finally confirmed and then rolled her eyes. "Why do I have all these damn sentimental moments with you? What the hell are you doing to me?"

Rachel leaned her head back and laughed loudly. "Your girlfriend seems to think I have some magical talking power."

"I'm beginning to think my Britts really is a secret genius," Santana said, shaking her head.

* * *

><p>"Noah!" Rachel said, shaking the boy, trying to wake him; he just rolled over, though, and put his pillow over his head. Rachel huffed and rolled her eyes. "Why is everyone so hard to wake up? Noah!"<p>

"Five more minutes, mom," he said, snuggling deeper into the covers.

"I am not your mother, Noah Puckerman," Rachel said, hitting him on his bicep.

When he squinted one eye open, he jumped. "What the hell are you doing in my room? You didn't float through the window did you?"

Rachel titled her head to look at him. "Wha—oh never mind that now. I'm afraid I forgot one very important thing and we need to go fix it right now!"

"Couldn't it have waited until school?" Puck asked, rubbing a hand over his face.

"We're not going to school," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Wow, it must be important if you're willing to ditch school for it," Puck said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Just let me take a piss and then I'm all ears."

Rachel scrunched her face in disgust, but waited patiently for him to return. As she was waiting, she looked around his room and it was exactly as she figured it would be. It was a complete and utter mess and half naked women adorned the walls; clothes were scattered all over the place and she was pretty sure something was growing in the corner.

"Okay, what is it," Puck asked as he come back into the room, pulling a pair of jeans over his boxers.

"Sam," Rachel said.

"Sam?" Puck questioned. "We have plenty of people this time, why do we—"

"Not because of that," Rachel said, grabbing what she hoped was a clean shirt and throwing it to Puck. "If Sam doesn't come back, he and Mercedes will never fall in love. They're married and happy in the future; we can't mess with their lives like that. They have two children that won't get the chance to exist if we don't bring him back here."

Puck sighed but nodded. "So I guess we're off to Kentucky today?"

"Stallionz?" Puck read as he stood looking at the sign two and a half hours later. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Positive," Rachel said, glancing at him. "Do you remember were Finn and I found Sam?"

"Yeah, it was at a—oh, hell no!" Puck said, throwing his arms up. "I am not going in a place where dudes are naked."

"Come on, Noah," Rachel said, tugging the boy by his arm. "The faster we get in the, the faster we can get Sam and go home."

"Where is he even going to live?" Puck asked.

"Kurt was kind enough to offer him a place," Rachel replied. "Burt and Carole are going to be gone a lot now, so it'll just be Finn and Kurt and they have an extra bedroom."

Puck and Rachel walked into the building; several people gave Puck a strange look but he just glared at them and crossed his arms over his chest. As soon as they entered the main room, the music started playing. She wasn't sure if Sam would be there today, but she looked at the stage and saw his familiar face.

"Do you have a dollar?" she asked, looking at Puck who seemed to be horrified at what he was witnessing. Rachel sighed when it appeared Puck wasn't going to answer her, so she looked behind him and could see the wallet in his back pocket.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" he asked the moment her hand reached into his pocket.

"Looking for a dollar," Rachel said, opening the wallet up and quickly extracting a bill. She threw it back to him and took a steadying breath. "I'll be right back."

She weaved her way through the crowd of women until she was standing right in front of the small stage. This was no less embarrassing than last time—more so, actually—so she kept her eyes on the ground and extended her hand with the dollar bill in it.

"Rachel?" Sam said the moment he saw her standing in front of him.

"Can we talk in the back?" Rachel shouted over the music.

"Ye-yeah," Sam said, trying to cover himself and motion to a door at the same time. "Go through there."

Rachel walked back over to Puck and nodded for him to follow her. They walked to the door that Sam had indicated and walked to the end of a short hall and to the dressing room that she had been in once before. Sam came in pulling a shirt over his head; his cheeks were tinged pink and Rachel could only assume it was from embarrassment.

"I didn't expect to see you two in here," Sam said, giving them a self-conscious smile.

"We came to get you, Sam," Rachel said, taking a seat. "You're seventeen; you shouldn't be doing this with your life."

Sam sighed. "I have to help pay for things. My parents both have jobs and we have a house now, but we still don't have a lot of money, so I do this to be able to help. I want my brother and sister to have a decent life and to be able to get the things they want. I know this isn't the idea job, but it's the best I can do for now"

"But what about you?" Rachel asked. "You're not an adult; you deserve to still be a kid sometimes, too."

"Believe me, I would love to go with you guys, but even if my parents agreed to it, where would I live? I don't want to go back to being homeless again," Sam said, looking around.

"You can stay at the Hummel's," Rachel replied. "Kurt already offered. Listen, we're competing at Sectionals this weekend and it just wouldn't be the same without you. We all miss you and would love to have you back."

"Really?" Sam asked, smiling.

"Yeah, dude," Puck said, putting his fist out and bumping knuckles with him.

"If you still want to help your parents out, why don't you get a job in Lima?" Rachel asked. "I know you won't make as much money as if you would working here, but if you're not here, your parents will have one less mouth to feed, so maybe that will make up the difference."

"And with a mouth as big as yours—" Puck said, getting cutoff by Rachel's nudge to the ribs.

Sam laughed and then looked at them with a huge grin on his face. "I missed you guys."

"Does that mean you'll talk to your parents?" Rachel asked.

Sam nodded. "Let's go talk to my parents.

* * *

><p>"Why are we here again before school's even started?" Santana grumbled as she walked into the room, yawning. "I swear, Berry, if it was anyone but you, I would kick their ass for this."<p>

Rachel smiled. "Good to know I am the exception."

"Don't flatter yourself," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "I just don't want you calling the ACLU or whatever on me."

"Noah and I have a surprise for all of you," Rachel said, nearly jumping up and down in excitement. "If you would please come out now."

"So, I heard we have a little competition Saturday," Sam said, emerging from Will's office with a grin; everyone looked stunned for a moment before the room exploded.

"Sam!" Mike said, jumping out of his chair to embrace the boy.

"Hey, guys," Sam said, receiving hugs from most of the group; Blaine, Rory, and Sugar stayed seated, though, since they were the only three in the room that had no idea who he was. "Hey, Mercedes."

Mercedes looked the most shocked of all as she pulled him into a long hug. "Hey, Sam."

Sam smiled at her as they pulled apart and gently removed a strand of hair from her face, causing her to duck her head. "I missed you." He looked up, smiling. "I missed all of you and it's good to be back."

Rachel watched as Sam chatted with everyone and didn't even notice when Quinn sat beside her.

"You brought Sam back," Quinn said, drawing Rachel's attention.

Rachel nodded. "It just didn't feel right doing it without him."

"I wasn't aware you two were close," Quinn said, raising her eyebrow.

"We're not, but something told me to get him," Rachel replied.

"Why did you ask Puck to go with you?" Quinn asked. "Why not Kurt or Santana or me?"

"I don't know," Rachel lied, shrugging. "Noah and I are friends and I figured he was the most willing to skip school to drive several hours for something that might not even work out."

Quinn sighed, but remained silent.

"He seems happy," Rachel said as she watched Sam.

Quinn nodded in agreement. "I guess you did the right thing getting him."

"I hope so," Rachel replied.

"Finn doesn't look too happy, though," Quinn noted.

Rachel looked to where Finn was standing and noticed he didn't seem as happy as everyone else. In fact, he looked like he was sulking. "Does he ever really look happy anymore?"

Quinn glanced at Finn and then stared at Rachel. "Not really—but I guess if I were him and had been stupid enough to let you go, I would be pretty unhappy as well."

"Will you two stop making out over there and get your asses over here!" Santana unnecessarily shouted across the room.

Quinn and Rachel rolled their eyes in unison and watched as Brittany bound over and took each of them by the hand, pulling them to the rest of the group.

"You okay?" Kurt asked, nudging Rachel.

Rachel smiled at him and nodded. "Just a little tired, I guess."

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked; Rachel motioned to the other side of the room and Kurt followed her. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"I don't know if anything is wrong," Rachel said, frowning. "I just have a lot on my mind lately."

"Anything you would like to talk about," Kurt asked, sitting down and patting the spot next to time.

Rachel sighed and sat down. "I don't know if there's anything _to_ talk about."

"Well, what's been on your mind so much?" Kurt asked.

"Everything," Rachel said, shaking her head. "My future, my past, our applications to NYADA, Sectionals, Quinn—"

"Quinn?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I can't figure her out," Rachel said. "One minute she's nice and the next she's glaring holes into Finn and shutting me out. She's very confusing."

Kurt smiled. "I don't think she's that confusing, hon."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

Kurt looked at Quinn across the room and smiled to himself. "I think you will figure it all out when you're ready to figure it out—I think you both will."

"Kurt?" Rachel questioned.

"Don't worry about it right now," he said, patting her hand. "Right now, we have Sectionals to worry about."

"Guys, party at my house Friday night!" Puck suddenly shouted to the room, high-fiving Sam.

"Guess there's a party at Puck's on Friday," Rachel said, smiling wryly.

* * *

><p>Rachel made her way through the crowd in Puck's house; it wasn't completely packed, but it was getting close and there were a lot of people she'd never seen before. She finally got through the crowd near the door and made it into the kitchen where she found Puck and Sam playing beer pong against Mike and Artie.<p>

"Drinking, Noah?" she whispered as she stood next to Puck.

"I'll be right back," Puck said, nudging Sam, and following Rachel to the other side of the kitchen.

"I just have beer here," Puck stated. "I'm going to make sure everyone has a designated driver before they leave or I'm calling them a cab. I swear I'm not going to let some jackass drive home drunk."

"If anything happens to anyone—"

"It won't," Puck promised. "I have a buddy by the door watching for anyone who leaves."

Rachel nodded and walked out of the kitchen, leaving the boys to their fun. She scanned the living room for any familiar faces and spotted Tina and Kurt sitting in the corner of the room, out of the way from everyone else. She essentially shoved her way through the crowd since no one seemed to want to move and finally sat down next to Tina.

"Hey, Rachel," Tina said, turning to give her a hug.

"We were wondering if you were going to grace us with your presence," Kurt said, taking a sip of his soda.

"I was doing one last run through for tomorrow," Rachel replied. "You know, none of us should be here. We have a huge day tomorrow and if anyone has a hangover and makes us lose Sectionals, I will personally make them so miserable that they never want to touch a drop of alcohol again."

"Don't look at me," Kurt said, motioning to his can. "I'm just drinking a Coke."

"Ditto," Tina said, holding her can up for Rachel to see.

"The boys are in the kitchen playing beer pong," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Which boys?" Kurt asked.

"Puck, Mike, Artie, and Sam," Rachel answered, looking around.

Tina narrowed her eyes and stood up. "Excuse me a moment."

"Uh oh." Kurt smiled, watching Tina go. "You just got someone in trouble."

"Rachel!" Brittany squealed and Rachel was nearly knocked over from the force of Brittany tackling her into a hug

"Nice to see you too, Brittany," Rachel said as Brittany grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Dance with me," Brittany said, walking backwards toward the middle of the living room, where the makeshift dance floor was. Brittany pulled her close and started dancing around her. "Please?"

Rachel wanted to protest, but the blonde looked so excited that Rachel smiled and started dancing with her to some song she would never in a million years listen to. When the blonde started grinding lightly against her, Rachel became alarmed and suddenly wondered where Santana was and if she needed to start worrying for her safety. She spotted the brunette next to Quinn, though, and she was smiling while watching the two of them dance. Since she knew Santana wasn't about to swoop down and kill her, Rachel decided to relax a little bit and have fun.

"That was fun," Brittany said, jumping up and down whenever the song ended.

"Thank you for the dance, Brittany," Rachel said, inclining her head toward the other girl.

"I'm going to see if San will dance with me now," Brittany said, giving Rachel a quick hug before practically skipping away.

Rachel smiled to herself and turned around, walking back to Kurt; Tina was now back and had brought Mike with her. As she walked over, Rachel started fanning her face; the room was fairly warm and that, combined with the dancing, was making her sweat.

"I thought Brittany was going to mount you on the dance floor," Kurt said, smirking at her.

"We were just dancing." Rachel rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Kurt. I'll be back; I need some fresh air."

Rachel patted Kurt's head and left to walk around the house. Rory had taken Mike's position in beer pong and seemed to be terrible at it if Puck and Sam's cheers were anything to go by. Sugar was now in the kitchen with them, cheering everyone on, and Mercedes was sitting on the counter, watching in amusement. She smiled at her as Rachel walked by and out the back door.

She had nothing covering her arms, so when she walked into the night air, she shivered. It was almost mid-December and with the sun down, the temperature had dropped to near freezing. Rachel took a deep breath, though, enjoying the cold feeling on her skin and in her lungs. It was peaceful out here—a stark contrast from what was going on inside the house.

"Hey, Rach."

Of course, things in her world never stayed peaceful for long.

"Finn," Rachel acknowledged as she stared up at the full moon above.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come inside and dance with me," Finn asked.

Rachel sighed. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Rachel looked at him in time to see his face fall. "Why not?"

"Listen, Finn, I—" Rachel was suddenly cut off by Finn's lips pressed against her. She was shocked and slightly frozen in place until a slight slam made her snap out of it. She pushed him away and quickly backed away, nearly tripping over a lawn chair in her haste to get away. "What the hell was that for?" She scowled at him as she wiped her mouth.

"I miss you," he said, stepping closer to her. "I want us to be together and I don't know why you act like you don't want that too. I thought if I kissed you, you would remember how you feel about me"

"Felt," Rachel corrected. "And if you ever kiss me again, against my will, I will slap you! Learn to take no for an answer—I am not getting back together with you. Not in this lifetime or any other."

Rachel huffed and stormed off, slamming the door behind her when she entered the house. Mercedes looked up from the game and looked at Rachel with a confused look on her face.

"What going on out there?" Mercedes asked. "First Quinn came storming in and now you."

"What?" Rachel asked, feeling herself panicking. "Quinn was out there?"

"Yeah, she went out there and stormed right back in," Mercedes replied.

"Did you see where she went?" Rachel desperately asked.

"She went that way," Sugar answered, pointing in the direction of the living room. "I wouldn't follow her if I were you; she looked really mad."

Rachel ignored Sugar, went into the living room, and looked around, but didn't see the blonde anywhere. She did see Santana near the stairs and quickly walked over to her. "Did you see Quinn go through here?"

"Upstairs," Santana answered, nodding up.

Rachel ran up the steps, taking them two at a time, and looked around. Several people were making out in the hall, but there was still no sign of Quinn. She checked several of the doors, but Puck had locked them all to stop unwanted guests from defiling his mom and sister's rooms. So, Rachel checked the only logical place she could be.

"Quinn?" Rachel asked, knocking lightly on the bathroom door. No one answered, so Rachel tried the doorknob, but it was locked. Rachel sighed and leaned her forehead against the door, closing her eyes. "Quinn, are you in there? Please, come out."

The door flew open and Rachel stumbled forward, nearly colliding with the blonde. When Rachel looked up, she noticed that Quinn's eyes looked slightly bloodshot.

"Have you been drinking?" Rachel asked.

"A little," Quinn said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

"Mercedes said you were in the backyard," Rachel said, pulling Quinn into the bathroom so they could talk in private.

"I was looking for you," Quinn mumbled.

"Oh," Rachel said, sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

"Why were you kissing Finn?" Quinn suddenly blurted out; she seemed to blush slightly and turned to the sink, bracing her hands on the edge. "I thought you said you and he were over?"

"We are," Rachel gently said. "He kissed me; believe me, it was not consensual and I informed him I would slap him if he ever tried anything like that again."

"Good," Quinn said, turning her head the slightest bit and smiling.

"Quinn—" Rachel took a deep breath, bracing herself for Quinn to close off. "Can I ask you one question and you be completely honest with me?"

Rachel swore she could see a flicker of fear in Quinn's eyes; they were both silent for a minute as Rachel gave her time to think. She was surprised her immediate answer wasn't 'no', so she just sat quietly and watched as Quinn nervously ran her fingers through her hair.

"What do you want to know?" Quinn finally asked, turning around so her back was now leaning against the sink and her eyes were focused on the wall in front of her.

What did she want to know? That was a good question. Rachel wanted to know a lot of things—like why Quinn was acting like she had never seen her act before. Rachel had several theories, but each seemed more unlikely than the next. This was Quinn Fabray she was talking about and she kept having to remind herself of that fact.

"Why are you so afraid I'm going to get back together with Finn?" Rachel finally settled on asking.

"Because I don't think he's good enough for you," Quinn answered almost immediately. "I'm afraid you're going to give up your dreams and waste your life on him. You are meant to do so many great things and I just don't want to see that happen. One of these days, you're going to find someone that's as special as you are and they're going to help you get everything you deserve, not stand in your way."

Rachel stood up and wrapped the taller girl into a tight hug; her chin was in the crook of Quinn's neck and she inhaled the flowery smell that she had come to associate with Quinn. Slowly, Quinn's arms wrapped around her waist and she felt Quinn sigh against her. They stayed like that for several more seconds before Rachel released her and pulled back. Quinn immediately noticed the tears in her eyes and reached her hand out to brush them away.

"Why are you crying?" Quinn whispered, smiling at her.

"Because I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," Rachel said, ducking her head in embarrassment.

"And that fact is proof that Finn doesn't deserve you," Quinn said, taking Rachel's hand and pulling her so she was looking at her again. "You deserve someone that's going to tell you every day how amazing you are."

"Don't happen to know anyone up for the job, would you?" Rachel asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Quinn just shrugged and smiled. "I'm sure there are plenty of people."

"Too bad I haven't found any," Rachel said, sniffing.

Quinn laughed lightly. "I'm sure you have and you just didn't realize it."

"Oh, what time is it," Rachel said, running a finger under her eyes as she looked around for a clock.

"A little after midnight," Quinn said, pulling her phone out to check the time.

Rachel's eyes widened. "I should get home. You didn't drive, did you?"

"I came here with Brittany and Santana," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Do you want a ride home?" Rachel offered.

"Isn't it a little out of your way?" Quinn asked.

"I don't mind," Rachel said, shrugging. "Unless you just want to come home with me and spend the night there. Mr. Schue did ask us to be at school in less than seven hours to rehearse and my house is closer."

Quinn hesitated for a moment before saying shrugging and saying, "I guess I could do that."

"Wonderful," Rachel said, smiling. "I'm just going to let Kurt know that I'm leaving and encourage the rest of the New Directions to do the same."

"And by encourage, you mean you're going to threaten them until they see it your way?" Quinn asked.

"Precisely," Rachel said, nodding once and looking determined.

* * *

><p>"Stop pacing, you're make <em>me<em> nervous and I don't do nervous," Santana said, scowling at Quinn.

"I can't help it," Quinn said, shaking her hands out, which she'd been clenching tightly by her sides.

"Why are you nervous?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on the other girl's arm to stop her pacing. "We're going to be amazing; we nailed it in rehearsals this morning and we're going to do the exact same thing out there."

"We haven't sung it in front of hundreds of people," Quinn said, looking even more terrified after she said it.

"You've sung a solo at a competition before," Rachel reminded her. "This is no different."

Quinn smoothed her white jacket down and took a deep breath. "I don't know why I'm this nervous."

"It's okay, Quinn," Brittany said, putting her arm around the other girl's waist and pulling her into her side. "You and Rach are going to do great. You've never let us down before and you're not going to now."

Rachel gave Brittany a thankful smile before walking over to Kurt, who was also pacing at the side of the choir room. "Don't tell me you're nervous, too."

"Nervous—no," Kurt said, sighing. "It's Sebastian."

"Who is Sebastian?" Rachel asked even though she knew who he was.

"Blaine met him when he visited some friends at Dalton a few weeks ago," Kurt said, shaking his head. "He's trying to steal Blaine from me and he's going to be out there tonight and I know I'm going to want to jump off that stage and punch his smarmy little face." Kurt huffed and crossed his arms. "Blaine says he's harmless, but I really hate him."

"You just have to ignore him, Kurt," Rachel advised. "If you show any weakness, he's going to jump on it. Blaine loves you and isn't going to do anything to jeopardize that."

"I know," Kurt replied. "And I trust Blaine—I just don't trust the meerkat. I really shouldn't call him that—it's an insult to meerkats."

Rachel laughed and patted Kurt's back. "You're going to be fine; just show him what you got and he's see exactly why Blaine is with you and not him."

Kurt nodded vigorously. "Is she okay?"

"She's a little nervous," Rachel said, looking at Quinn, who was at least smiling with Santana and Brittany. "I don't know why, though; it's not like she's never experienced being the center of attention before. It kind of happens to her on a daily basis."

"Okay, guys!" Will said, coming in and clapping his hands together. "We're on in five!"

Everyone started buzzing around, half from nerves and half from excitement. Rachel started making her way over to Quinn to check on her one last time before they took the stage. Their duet was the first song they were performing, followed by Control and Man in the Mirror. Puck had kept up his end and easily convinced the guys while Rachel had a little harder time getting everyone on board with Control, but in the end, she won out.

"Just take a deep breath," Rachel said, walking up to the blonde and straightening her bowtie for her.

"Are your parents out there?" Quinn asked.

"Daddy is, but Dad had to work," Rachel replied.

"Is your mom?" Rachel asked. "Is that why you're so nervous?"

Quinn shook her head. "She had to work today too."

"Don't be so tense," Rachel said, pulling Quinn into her arms and hugging her. "When you play the piano, you relax and just let go; I can tell you lose yourself in the music and it's beautiful to see. Just do like you do when you're at the piano and you'll be as amazing as I know you can be."

When they pulled away, they smiled at each other, and Santana came up between them and put her arms around their shoulders. "You two ready?"

"Always," Rachel said, flashing her a smile.

"Think you two can go out there and pretend to be in love?" Santana asked, smirking.

Quinn blushed and Rachel simply rolled her eyes.

"Leave them alone, San," Brittany said, pulling the brunette away from between the two.

"Okay, guys, it's time to go out there!" Mr. Schue announced.

"Let's go be amazing," Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

* * *

><p><strong>I can't thank everyone enough for the amazing reviews (and sheer number of them) for the last chapter. <strong>

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	13. Suddenly I See

**This chapter is where Extraordinary Merry Christmas was supposed to happen, but I hated that episode and didn't want to watch it again so I totally ignored it.**

**girly: My best friend, skittles84, made the picture for me, so you would have to ask her what she was going for.**

**And it still isn't for another two hours, but I would like to wish my best friend a happy birthday. I would also like to wish my girlfriend (even though she'll never see this) a happy anniversary...s**he's officially managed to put up with me for 7 years.****

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13 – Suddenly I See<strong>

"Mr. Schue, if I may?" Rachel said as her hand shot up.

"Yes, Rachel?" he asked.

Rachel got out of her seat and stood in front of her teacher. "I just wanted to express to everyone how proud I am of the hard work you've demonstrated over the last few weeks. It wasn't easy, but we won Sectionals again—" Everyone started cheering and Rachel smiled. "Now, we have Regionals to look forward to and the competition is going to be even more intense, but if we keep up the hard work, I don't see any reason we won't win that as well. We just need to stay focused and not let anything distract us from our goal, so at the end of the year, we can go kick butt at Nationals."

"Thank you, Rachel, but I think it's a little early to be thinking of Regionals," Mr. Schue said, ushering her away.

"You're right, it's not the week before the competition," Rachel said, smiling tightly.

"Alright, guys," Mr. Schue said, ignoring her and smiling at the rest of the class.

As soon as he started talking, Rachel tuned him out. She had heard everything he had to say once before and he was driving her nuts with his attitude toward preparing for their competitions. While it bugged her before, it was even worse now. She knew what it took to be successful and it was the opposite of everything he did. She had been to his office several times, trying to get him more focused, but he always brushed her off and completely ignored all of her suggestions. It was going to be a miracle if they won Nationals this time, but she was going to do everything she could to make it happen.

"Have fun!" Mr. Schue said when he was finished.

Everyone started moving around, partnering up, but Rachel looked around in confusion since she hadn't heard anything he said; it was the only downside to tuning him out.

"Come on," Quinn said, taking her by the arm.

"What are we doing?" Rachel whispered.

"You are ignoring Mr. Schue; the rest of us are doing the assignment," Quinn said, laughing.

Rachel couldn't help but blush. "He's just so frustrating; he shoots down all of my ideas and then expects us to prepare the night before a huge competition, but he won't listen to reason, so it keeps happening over and over and I'm afraid we're going to lose because we are so unprepared." Rachel took a deep breath. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I love that you're so passionate about Glee and that you want us to be the best we can be. I also agree with you on everything; we're lucky we won Regionals last year and we squandered the opportunity we had at Nationals. I mean, we went to New York without a set list—who does that?"

Rachel looked around and noticed that everyone was already working while she and Quinn were still standing there. "So, what is this week's assignment?"

"He wants us to sing songs about acceptance," Quinn replied.

"How original," Rachel deadpanned.

"It does seem to be a common theme with almost every assignment he gives us," Quinn said, nodding. She then looked over at Mercedes, Blaine, and Kurt. "Ten dollars says they either sing Perfect or Beautiful again."

Rachel followed her gaze and laughed. "Probably. Any suggestions for our song."

Quinn smirked. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes—why?" Rachel asked.

"I have the perfect song," Quinn stated. "But you have probably never heard it before, but that also means I doubt anyone else is going to do it. I thought maybe I would learn to play it on the piano and you could sing it with me backing you."

"I trust you, Quinn," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde. "And I sort of hijacked the last assignment, so it would only be fair if I let you take the lead on this one."

"I'll get the lyrics to you tomorrow," Quinn said, smiling back.

Rachel looked at the piano for a moment, debating on whether to ask Quinn what she wanted to ask her. She never knew what was going to be too much of a personal question and she was always afraid the other girl was going to pull away from her again. Sometimes, even when she asked the most mundane things, Quinn seemed to avoid answering the question or just completely ignore that she had been asked anything. Finally, though, Rachel sighed and turned back to Quinn.

"Why did you start playing the piano again?" Rachel asked.

"Well, not too long ago someone told me I should play for myself," Quinn said, staring into Rachel's eyes. "I guess I realized I wasn't playing because of my father and I didn't want him having any kind of hold on me anymore, so I slowly started playing again." Quinn shrugged. "That day in here—I discovered I missed it more than I realized."

Rachel smiled to herself. "I'm glad; you're amazing at it. That song you sang the other day was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard."

"Santana, Brittany, and I listened to it _so_ much our freshman year," Quinn said, shaking her head. "We all have such different musical tastes and it was one of the few songs we could ever agree on." Quinn let out a light laugh. "I think it sort of became their song, which is why I sang it for Santana—well, for both of them really. I wanted to remind them that what they have is special and even though we haven't always had the easiest friendship, I'm still here for them, just like I was then."

Rachel smiled and pulled an unsuspecting Quinn into a hug; she had her face buried into the crook of Quinn's neck and could feel her laughing.

"Why are you laughing at me?" Rachel mumbled into Quinn's neck.

"You're just so—" Quinn shook her head and put her arms around Rachel's shoulders.

"So what?" Rachel asked, looking up into Quinn's eyes.

"I don't even know," Quinn whispered as she smiled down at her.

Rachel sighed and laid her head on Quinn's collarbone. "You're the perfect height for hugging."

"Am I?" Quinn asked, laughing lightly.

"Yeah," Rachel replied. "Finn was way too tall. Kurt's good to hug as well, though, but I think you have him beat."

Rachel pulled away and noticed three sets of eyes on her: Santana was looking at her and smirking, Kurt was looking at her with a curious expression, and Finn was looking between her and Quinn with his jaw clenched.

"What?" she asked.

Kurt and Santana both shrugged, but Finn continued staring at her for a few more moments before finally looking away.

"Why is everyone acting so strangely?" Rachel asked, looking at Quinn.

Quinn shrugged. "Don't ask me."

* * *

><p>Rachel sipped on her hot chocolate and looked around for any sign of Kurt or Blaine; they were supposed to have met her fifteen minutes ago, but they still hadn't shown up. She glanced at her phone again to see what time it was and if she had somehow missed a text from one of them explaining their tardiness. There was nothing, though, so she sighed and went back to staring at the table. After a few more minutes, the bell above the door jingled and Rachel looked over to see a harried looking Kurt walking in with Blaine in tow. Kurt shook the snowflakes from his hair and looked around for her.<p>

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Kurt said, rushing over to her. "We had to meet someone at the bakery, but it took a lot longer than I had anticipated and then it started snowing and you know how much I hate driving in the snow."

"It's just a few flurries, Kurt," Rachel said, rolling her eyes at him; he always did have a weird phobia of driving even in even the lightest now. "What were you getting at the bakery?"

"Your birthday cake," Kurt said, smiling smugly.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, did I forget to mention—we're throwing you a birthday party Saturday," Kurt replied.

"Since when?" Rachel asked, surprised by the news.

"Do you want your usual?" Blaine asked Kurt.

"Please," Kurt said, smiling at his boyfriend.

Blaine smiled back. "Be right back."

"Since a few days ago," Kurt answered, turning to Rachel. "All of us in Glee agreed that we need to celebrate your eighteen birthday, so the party is Saturday. I know your birthday is Sunday, but who throws a huge party on a Sunday?"

"You guys don't have to do this," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Nonsense," Kurt said, gently smacking her hand. "The cakes are already ordered—we even made sure to get a vegan friendly one for you—Tina and Mercedes are taking care of the decorations, Artie is taking care of the music, Blaine and I are bringing the food, and of course Puck is taking care of the alcohol. Quinn's mother is going out of town to visit Quinn's sister, so we're having it at her house."

"She just went to visit her a few weeks ago," Rachel said, frowning.

"Quinn said her mother agreed to stay here for Christmas, so she's going this weekend to visit instead," Kurt explained.

"Oh," Rachel said, nodding. "I suppose that makes sense."

"Here you go," Blaine said, setting Kurt's drink down in front of him.

"Thank you," Kurt said, leaning in to give Blaine a quick kiss on the lips.

"Do you two have to be so cute all the time?" Rachel asked, making a face at them.

Blaine laughed. "We apologize."

"Speak for yourself," Kurt said, lightly tapping Blaine on the shoulder; the two smiled at each other and Kurt turned his attention back to Rachel. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"It's nearly my birthday and the holidays are coming up and I guess I just get lonely around this time of the year," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Please tell me you haven't started missing Finn," Kurt said, putting his hand over his heart like he was going to have a heart attack if Rachel said yes.

"No!" Rachel said, emphatically shaking her head. "Heavens no; it's a more general feeling of loneliness that isn't related to any one specific person."

"Well, I'm sure there are plenty of people that would love to go out with you," Blaine said, covering her hand with his. "You won't be alone for long; before you know it, someone is going to come along and sweep you off your feet."

"I think I already know someone looking to fill the position," Kurt said, raising his eyebrows as he took a sip of his drink.

Rachel frowned. "May I ask who?"

"Oh, come on," Kurt said incredulously.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"You seriously haven't noticed it?" Kurt asked.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," Rachel said, shaking her head at his dramatic behavior.

Kurt looked at Blaine. "Tell me I'm not the only one that sees it."

"No, honey," Blaine said, patting Kurt's hand.

"Will you two please tell me what you're talking about?" Rachel asked, huffing in annoyance.

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and then looked back at Rachel.

"Never mind," Kurt said, shrugging.

"What!" Rachel loudly said. "No—not never mind. Kindly tell me what you two are talking about."

"She seriously has no idea," Kurt said, turning to Blaine. "I mean—really?"

"Well, all things considered, it probably never crossed her mind as a possibility," Blaine replied. "Given what you've told me, would you really think it if you were her."

"Guys, I'm right here," Rachel said, crossing her arms, and huffing. "Now, are you two going to tell me what are you are talking about anytime soon?"

"I think it would be best if we didn't," Kurt replied.

"What?" Rachel asked, glaring at him.

"Well, I figured you already knew, but seeing as how you don't, I don't really think it's my place to tell you," Kurt said, shrugging. "And don't start pouting at me; you'll find out soon enough."

Rachel scowled at him before looking away. "Fine."

"So, is there anyone _you_ might be interested in," Blaine asked.

Rachel thought about the question; was there anyone? She was completely over Finn, so that was out, and none of the other guys in Glee were all that appealing to her. Noah was at one point, but that ship had long sailed and now she saw him as nothing more than a friend. She remembered how she used to get so excited every morning, looking forward to seeing Finn, but that hadn't happened to her in a long time. The only time she could think of getting excited to go to school was on Monday mornings when she knew she was going to meet Quinn at the bleachers or when she was going to sing in Glee.

"Not really," Rachel finally answered, shrugging.

* * *

><p>"Water?" Quinn asked, holding a bottle out for Rachel.<p>

Rachel smiled in appreciation. "Thanks."

It was after school and they had been working on their song for the past few hours; it was going a lot better than the last time they worked together and Rachel was thankful for that. She found that they actually worked quite well together when neither was mad at the other; every time they collaborated, though, it seems like one of them ended up in tears—namely Rachel. This time was different, though; they were actually laughing and Rachel was very much enjoying Quinn's company.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, sitting next to Rachel on the Piano bench.

Rachel hummed and shrugged.

"Come on," Quinn said, nudging her shoulder into Rachel's. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is _wrong_; it's just something Kurt said to me the other day," Rachel said, shaking her head

"Do I need to beat him up," Quinn asked, looking serious until she cracked a small smile.

"No," Rachel said, giggling. "It wasn't anything bad." Rachel sighed. "I was telling him how disgustingly cute he and Blaine are and I mentioned that I get lonely around this time of the year and he said something about someone liking me, but wouldn't say who. He also might have implied that I am stupid for not realizing it." Rachel huffed and scowled. "Maybe you _can_ beat him up for that."

Quinn laughed. "I'll do that the next time I see him."

"Good," Rachel said, smiling.

"He really didn't say who?" Quinn asked.

Rachel shook her head. "He was probably just teasing me because he knew it would drive me nuts. I know I'm not the prettiest girl, so why would anyone want me when there are so much nicer looking girls in school."

"Don't do that," Quinn said, sighing.

"Why not?" Rachel asked, shrugging. "It's true—you know it's true. You and Santana reminded me of it every single day and I've never really been able to think any differently."

"Santana and I were idiots," Quinn stated.

"That doesn't mean you were wrong," Rachel quietly said.

Quinn huffed. "Of course we were wrong! Don't you get it—we were jealous of you."

"I hardly believe that," Rachel said, scoffing.

"You have more talent than the rest of this town combined," Quinn replied. "We were both jealous of that and we wanted to tear you down. There was no way you would ever believe us if we attacked your talent so we did it in other ways." Quinn was crying at this point and Rachel was watching her with rapt attention. "I was always so insecure about the way I looked, so that's why I went after you for how you looked. You have to believe me now when I tell you that you are beautiful and I don't want you thinking you're not just because I was a jealous, coldhearted, bitch. So please, don't ever think it again or I might have to make a PowerPoint presentation on all the ways we were wrong."

Rachel swallowed thickly, trying to will the tears in her eyes not to fall. When she looked into Quinn's eyes, she saw nothing but sincerity in them.

"I—"

She didn't know what to say; 'thank you' didn't seem like a strong enough response. Before she could really think of anything else, she leaned up and kissed Quinn on the cheek. When she pulled back, they were both blushing and Rachel ducked her head in embarrassment.

"That was probably very inappropriate," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Maybe," Quinn said, giving her a lopsided smile.

Rachel glanced at Quinn and the blonde was looking at her with that expression the brunette couldn't quite decipher. It was the same way she had been looking at her during her performance in Glee and several other times that Rachel had noticed since then. It actually reminded Rachel of how Santana used to look at Brittany when—

Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh!"

Quinn frowned. "Oh what?"

"It's n-nothing," Rachel stuttered out.

"Okay," Quinn said, giving her a curious look. "Shall we continue rehearsing?"

Rachel nodded numbly. "Sure."

Quinn looked at her in concern, but shook her head and shrugged. Rachel's mind was going a mile a minute; was _Quinn_ who Kurt had been talking about? Surely she wasn't—this was Quinn, ex head Cheerio, ex-president of the Celibacy Club, former tormenter, completely straight Quinn. Right? Had she just been so oblivious because of the blonde's past that she wasn't seeing what was right in front of her now and what apparently other people were seeing?

"Rachel?"

Rachel looked up and Quinn was staring at her. "Yeah."

"You completely missed your cue," Quinn said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Did I?" Rachel asked, looking around.

Quinn put her hand on Rachel's forehead, causing the brunette to jump at the contact. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"You know, I'm actually not feeling so well," Rachel said, standing up. "I think we've practiced enough to do the song tomorrow, so why don't we call it a night."

"Okay," Quinn said, looking very confused.

"Goodnight, Quinn," Rachel said, turning on her heel.

Quinn sighed. "Night, Rach."

Rachel quickly walked away and didn't pause until she was safely inside her car; once she was sitting down, she took a deep, steadying breath. Her brain was fighting between thinking there was no way on earth her theory was possible, but at the same time it kept pointing out things to contradict that. Quinn's attitude towards her had changed drastically over the last four months and is it possible that this was the reason why? It still sounded so ridiculous to her, though, that she was having trouble wrapping her head around it. This was Quinn! She would almost have an easier time believing Kurt had romantic feelings towards her.

Sighing, she started her car and pulled out of the parking lot.

* * *

><p>"And before we go, Rachel and Quinn have their song prepared."<p>

Rachel heard everyone clapping for them and she took a deep breath; she had been walking around all day in a daze, but now it was time to sing. Almost everyone in Glee had stopped her at some point in the day and asked if she was okay. She would shrug and walk away, though, without saying a word. Kurt had been watching her in concern, just like he was doing right now. And Quinn—she didn't know how Quinn was looking at her because she had deliberately not looked at the other girl all day. She had been trying to get her thoughts together since yesterday evening and seeing Quinn's hazel eyes on her wouldn't help.

She walked up to the microphone; Quinn was behind her playing the piano and Rachel was waiting for her cue to start singing. Her mind was all over the place, but nothing would ever stop her from giving a good performance.

"_When I was seven they said I was strange  
><em>_I noticed that my nose and hair weren't the same  
><em>_I asked my parents if I was okay  
><em>_They said you're more beautiful and that's the way  
><em>_They show that they wish that they had your smile  
><em>_So my confidence was up for a while  
><em>_I got real comfortable with my own style  
><em>_I knew that they were only jealous 'cause"_

Quinn's voice blended perfectly with her voice as soon as the chorus hit.

"_People are all the same  
><em>_And we only get judged by what we do  
><em>_Personality reflects name  
><em>_And if I'm ugly then so are you, so are you"_

Rachel looked up and Santana was watching her with rapt attention; she didn't know why the brunette was looking at her so intensely, but it made her nervous.

"_There was a time when I felt like I cared  
><em>_That I was shorter than everyone there  
><em>_People made me feel like life wasn't fair  
><em>_And I did things that made me ashamed  
><em>_Cause I didn't know my body would change  
><em>_I grew taller than them in more ways  
><em>_But there will always be the one who will say  
><em>_Something bad to make them feel great"_

Quinn took over singing and Rachel chanced a glance back at the blonde. Quinn had her eyes closed as she sung and Rachel couldn't help but study her. Just like last time, Rachel noticed how peaceful and carefree she looked as her fingers danced over the keys.

"_Everybody talks bad about somebody else and  
><em>_Never realize how it affects somebody else and  
><em>_You bet it won't be forgotten  
><em>_Envy is the only thing it could be"_

They finished the song together, singing the chorus twice more. When they were done, Brittany jumped to her feet and started clapping for them; if there was one person she could always count on for enthusiasm, it was Brittany. For the first time that day, Rachel smiled; everyone else started clapping and Rachel walked up the risers, giving Brittany a hug.

Mr. Schue congratulated everyone on their performances and dismissed them before Rachel had even sat back down. She went to grab her bag when Santana grabbed tightly onto her arm and held her back while everyone else left.

"Okay, Berry, what's your problem today?" Santana asked as soon as the last person had left the room.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel said, shrugging.

"How many times do I have to tell you you're a shitty liar before you believe me," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "What's the deal with you?"

Rachel sighed. "Can we not talk about it right now?"

Santana scoffed. "You make me spill my guts to you and then you don't want to talk when it's about you."

"I just—" Rachel shook her head and looked around the room, avoiding Santana's gaze. "I'm simply trying to get my head around something and I would appreciate it if we could delay the conversation until I've had more time to process."

Santana nodded. "Fine, but you know I'm here for you and shit if you do want to talk."

Rachel smiled. "I know."

"Whatever," Santana said, turning to walk away.

Rachel wanted to talk to Santana, but she didn't know if the other girl had figured it out and she didn't want to bring it up if she didn't know. She had made several remarks that led her to believe she did know, but she could have just been acting like herself when she made the comments. Plus, Rachel didn't know if she could say it out loud; it sounded stupid enough in her head, but to say out loud that she thought Quinn Fabray liked her was just crazy.

* * *

><p>"There's the birthday girl!" Kurt said, wrapping her in a hug as soon as she entered the Fabray residence.<p>

Rachel had decided to put everything out of her mind and enjoy the night. If she was still thinking about it, she would be so distracted that she wouldn't be able to have a good time. Her friends had evidently put a lot of hard work into this party and she didn't want to spoil it for them or for herself.

"Hey, girl," Mercedes said, briefly pulling her in to a one armed hug. "I know it isn't until tomorrow, but happy birthday."

"Thank you, Mercedes," she said, smiling at the other girl.

Everyone was wishing her a happy birthday as they made their way to her. Everyone except Quinn, who didn't seem to be in the living room with the rest of the Glee kids. She tried to ignore the fact that the blonde wasn't there and she didn't want to seem like she was looking for her, so she sat next to Puck on the couch

"How you doing?" he asked.

"Kind of weird turning eighteen again," Rachel whispered.

Puck laughed. "Yeah since this is your—what—thirtieth birthday?"

Rachel cringed. "Don't say that."

"Sorry," Puck said, smirking. "But you look pretty hot for a thirty-year-old"

The party went on and Rachel was thankful that it was only the members of New Directions that had been invited; not that anyone else would want to come to her birthday party, but she suspected half the school would have shown up if they had known there was free alcohol involved. Everyone was having a good time, even Rachel, and she had even forgotten about everything until the first time Quinn finally came into the room. When they locked eyes, Quinn smiled at her and she returned the smile. Rachel wasn't necessarily avoiding Quinn at the party, but everyone else was talking to her, so she didn't get the chance to speak with Quinn alone. Plus, the blonde seemed to keep disappearing and Rachel didn't know where she was.

"Thank you for throwing me this party, Kurt," she said, giving the boy's arm a squeeze as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Actually, it wasn't technically my idea," Kurt admitted.

"What?" Rachel said, lifting her head up. "Whose idea was it, then?"

"Quinn," Kurt replied.

Rachel's breath hitched. "Quinn." Rachel closed her eyes and laughed. "Of course it was."

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Kurt asked, looking at her, and frowning

Rachel smiled to herself. "I'm fine—have you seen Quinn?"

Kurt looked around for a moment. "I think she's upstairs."

"I'll be right back," Rachel said.

She stood up from her spot on the floor and weaved her way through everyone else, trying not to step on any hands along the way. Most of them were playing some game that Rachel had never heard of, so she had opted to sit out the first game. She walked upstairs, but she had never been to Quinn's house, so she didn't actually know which bedroom was hers. She walked along, though, and noticed one of the doors was slightly ajar and light was coming from it, so she walked up and gently knocked.

"Come in," she heard Quinn say.

Rachel slowly opened the door and found Quinn rummaging through some things. "I hope I'm not intruding."

Quinn turned around a smiled at her. "No, I was just looking for your present. I know I put it in here somewhere, but—" She snapped her fingers and walked to the closet. "Never mind, I remember."

Rachel couldn't help but smile. "So, does this mean I get my present now?"

"Not yet," Quinn replied, looking at the clock. "Four more minutes."

Rachel frowned. "Why four more minutes?"

"Because then it will be midnight and your actual birthday," Quinn said, turning around to sit on the edge of her bed.

"It's a nice party," Rachel commented, sitting beside the blonde.

"Yeah—" Quinn looked out the window, avoiding Rachel's gaze. "Kurt did a good job with it."

Rachel looked at her in surprise; she knew it had been Quinn's idea, so why didn't the blonde want her to know it was actually her idea?

"It was incredibly sweet of him to remember my birthday," Rachel said, glancing at the other girl. "I wasn't even aware he knew when my birthday was. I think this is the first birthday party that wasn't thrown by my fathers and where people actually came."

Quinn smiled sadly. "You've never really had a birthday before?"

"I invited nearly all the girls in our grade to my sixteen birthday, but only Tina came," Rachel said, remembering the day well. "I guess it wasn't so bad—we stayed up half the night watching movies and eating pizza. It was one of the first times I had a friend stay over."

"I'm sorry," Quinn quietly said.

"It wasn't your fault," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"It was, actually," Quinn said, hanging her head. "When I heard about your birthday party, I convinced Puck to throw a party that same night."

"Why would you do that?" Rachel asked, frowning.

Quinn sighed. "Because I was an idiot, Rachel. I told you before: I will never deserve your forgiveness for all the stupid things I've done to you, some of which you didn't even know about. I don't even know why you're friends with me; if roles were reversed, I would want nothing to do with the person that did all those horrible things to me."

"You have to stop beating yourself up, Quinn," Rachel said, putting her hand over Quinn's.

Quinn shook her head. "I don't deserve to stop."

Rachel looked at Quinn and hated seeing such pain in her eyes, so she wrapped her arm around the blonde and pulled her into her side. "I've forgiven you Quinn; now, you need to forgive yourself."

"Easier said than done," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"I know," Rachel said, sighing.

Rachel felt Quinn's head shift. "It's midnight."

"Now do I get my present?" Rachel asked, smiling.

Quinn reached behind them on the bed and grabbed the small package. "Here."

Rachel immediately ripped the wrapping off and stared at the two tickets in her hand. "Wicked?"

"For spring break," Quinn explained. "I—I didn't tell you, but I applied to Yale."

"You what!" Rachel asked, quickly turning her head to look at Quinn.

Quinn smiled shyly. "I thought maybe you and I could take a road trip; we can go to New York and see where you're going to be living for the rest of your life and then go to New Haven, if I actually get in." Quinn shrugged. "We don't have to go, but I thought it might be fun."

"It sounds perfect," Rachel said, throwing her arms around Quinn. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Quinn replied.

Rachel could feel Quinn smiling.

* * *

><p><strong>The song was Ugly by Sugababes but I did change one word in it. And for those of you who don't like fics filled with songs, don't worry…this isn't going to turn into one of those and the one in this chapter just kind of happened.<strong>

**Some of you keep calling Rachel stupid, but I was trying to be more realistic with this story. You all have seen Quinn's feelings because it's a Faberry story and you know it's going to happen, but if this was real life, would you really think the girl that bullied you and generally hated you could possibly have feelings for you? Especially someone like Rachel who is insecure about her looks and thinks Quinn is the prettiest girl she's ever seen. What Blaine said has been my logic all along; given their past history, why **_**would**_** she think it.**

**Thoughts? Comments? Yay for her finally realizing it? Reviews are always appreciated.**


	14. When the Lights Go Out

**wunderwolfer: You can wind her up more; that is actually the one and only song of hers I know, so you can tell her that you were incorrect and she actually is the only fan in the world ;).**

**girly: Thank you…and you should get like best reader award or something for going and reading skittles84's story.**

**To everyone suddenly talking about Rachel's maturity: It'll be addressed later in the story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14 – When the Lights Go Out<strong>

Since school was out for the holiday break, Rachel decided to take a jog through the park on Monday morning. It was freezing out, so she was bundled up, but it was nothing compared to the winters in New York. At first, she had been apprehensive about running in such cold weather, but she quickly found that it could be invigorating and after a while, she began to not even notice the cold.

The park was small, so she was making her second lap around it when she noticed Quinn on the same bench she had been sitting on the first time she ran into her at the park. Quinn was reading a book and hadn't noticed her as she approached, so Rachel sat on the bench and nudged her leg, which finally made Quinn look up.

"Whatchya reading?" Rachel asked, trying to see the cover; Quinn showed her the front of the book and Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "You are such a nerd sometimes."

"There is nothing wrong with Harry Potter," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes.

"I didn't say there was," Rachel stated. "So, why are you sitting out here in the cold?"

"My mother was bugging me," Quinn replied, setting the book in her lap.

"Anything specific or just a general bugging?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"Both," Quinn said, smirking. "It's pathetic, but I want school to start back just so I have an excuse to get out of the house. She just drives me nuts; she's overly attentive most of the time and I just want her to leave me alone. I don't need her asking me ten times a day if I'm okay. I know she's still trying to make up for allowing my father to kick me out of the house, but it's too much sometimes and I feel like I'm suffocating there."

"At least she's trying," Rachel said, shrugging.

"I know, but I wish she wouldn't try so hard," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"So, how was your Christmas?" Rachel asked. "You know, other than your mom bugging you."

Quinn shrugged. "It was fine."

"Get anything good?" Rachel asked when Quinn didn't elaborate.

"My mom got me a Kindle," Quinn said, rolling her eyes. "I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't want one, so I've been trying to use it to read, but it's just not the same. I like my books to be—smelly."

Rachel laughed. "Smelly?"

"Once you watch your gift, you'll get that," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"Thank you for that, by the way," Rachel said smiling. "I tried calling you Saturday night after Santana dropped it off, but you didn't answer."

"Yeah, my mother wanted quality bonding time this weekend and made me turn off my phone," Quinn said with an eye roll. "I was planning on bringing it myself, but she guilted me into staying home, so then I had to convince Santana to do it."

Rachel nodded. "I was wondering why Santana was the one to show up and not you. How did you convince her?"

"I told her I wouldn't tell her parents that she's been sneaking over to Brittany's almost every night," Quinn said, smirking.

Rachel laughed. "You wouldn't do that anyway."

"No, but she doesn't need to know that," Quinn said, grinning.

"I umm—I want to thank you for the party," Rachel said, feeling a bit nervous about bringing it up.

"Why are you thanking m—"

"I know it was your doing and not Kurt's," Rachel said, cutting her off. "He told me that night. Why did you want me to think it was him and not you?"

"I don't know," Quinn mumbled.

"Quinn," Rachel said softly, turning the other girl's face toward her. "Why?"

"I told you—I don't know," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I guess—I guess I'm still trying to make up for things and I just didn't want you know because then you would do this; you would thank me and I don't need you to do that, so I let you think it was Kurt."

"You might not need me to thank you, but I'm going to anyway," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around the blonde. "Thank you for the party; it meant a lot to me." Rachel could tell that Quinn was blushing and it made her giggle. "Ok, enough of me embarrassing you."

"Thank you," Quinn said, laughing.

Rachel let go of Quinn, but rested her head on the blonde's shoulder. "I was wondering—I'm having a sleepover Friday night and wanted to know if you would like to come. Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes are going to be there and it's usually just us, but since we're friends now, I thought I would extend an invitation. I can invite Santana and Brittany, too, if that would make you more comfortable. I know we're all a bit old to be having one, but we've been doing it once a month as a way to keep up with each other, since things at school are getting hectic and it's not always easy to stay friends as you enter adulthood. Plus, Puck's New Year's party is the next night, so we're all going to get ready together."

"Sounds like fun," Quinn replied.

"Yeah?" Rachel said, looking up at her.

"Yeah," Quinn said, smiling. "And you can invite Brittany and Santana, but don't count on them coming; I think that's their date night, which means you won't want them anywhere near you when you're sleeping."

"Surely they wouldn't do that with other people in the room," Rachel said frowning.

Quinn loudly laughed. "Oh, I guarantee they would. Believe me—I know from personal experience to never sleep with them in the same room because if they think everyone is asleep, they will go at it."

Rachel scrunched her face up. "That's not very considerate of them."

"When has Santana ever been considerate?" Quinn asked. "Any time they sleep over, I make them stay in the guestroom. I had a rather traumatic experience with them a few years ago and I couldn't look either of them in the eye for a week."

"I guess if they do agree, I will have to move some of Dad's paintings off the bed; I would definitely rather not go through what you went through," Rachel replied.

"So he's still doing watercolors?" Quinn asked.

"Acrylics," Rachel said, shaking her head. "He never sticks with something for more than a few weeks. I overheard him talking to Daddy the other day about taking up Yoga."

Quinn laughed. "Well, at least he won't be taking up the entire guestroom with that."

"In theory," Rachel wryly said. "But I'm sure he would find a way."

Quinn smiled at her and then sighed. "I should get going; I told my mother I wouldn't be gone long."

"Still in bonding mode?" Rachel asked, lifting her head up.

"Unfortunately," Quinn replied, standing up. "And if I want to spend the night at your house Friday, I'm going to need to get her out of this mood."

"Well, call or text me if you're not going to be able to make it," Rachel said, standing up as well.

"Oh, I'll make it regardless," Quinn said, stepping in to hug Rachel.

"Good," Rachel said, hugging her back. "I'll see you Friday, then."

Quinn waved and Rachel stood there, watching her walk away; she still didn't know what to think about the other girl, but she decided it was no reason to avoid her. Anytime she was away from her, she found herself missing the blonde, so unless she ever said anything about it, she was just going to ignore everything and not spend any more time dwelling on it.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Kurt," Rachel said when she opened the door and saw the boy standing on the welcome mat.<p>

"It's snowing," Kurt said, looking none too pleased.

"Yes, it is," Rachel acknowledged, looking outside.

"I had to drive," Kurt said, huffing.

"You know, you really need to get over this fear of driving in the snow," Rachel said, shaking her head. "It's not even sticking to the road yet."

Kurt glared at her. "That's not the point."

"Hello, Tina," Rachel said, looking behind Kurt at the girl coming up the walkway.

"Hey, guys," Tina said with a little wave. "Looks like I'm right on time."

"Yes, right on time to hear Kurt complain about having to drive through the massive blizzard we're having," Rachel said, smirking in Kurt's direction.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "That is an over exaggeration. I swear you've been hanging around Santana too much lately."

Rachel laughed. "Mercedes is already inside; just one more person and we can get started."

"One more person?" Kurt asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I invited Quinn," Rachel replied. "I invited Santana and Brittany, but they were too busy to come."

"I thought it was just going to be us," Kurt said, almost looking a little annoyed.

"Do you have a problem with Quinn?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Kurt sighed and his face softened. "No, sweetie; I was just surprised and I apologize if you thought I meant something by it. Now, I'm going to go see what Mercedes is up to."

"She's in the kitchen," Rachel said as Kurt kissed her cheek.

"How was your Christmas?" Rachel asked, turning to Tina.

"It was great. Mike's family rented a cabin and I spent Christmas Day with them," Tina said, smiling.

"Oh, that sounds like fun," Rachel wistfully said.

"It was amazing," Tina gushed. "I'm terrible at skiing, but Mike tried to teach me. I was still terrible even after that, but it was fun watching him; he's actually really good at it. We went up there a couple days before Christmas, so it was nice getting to spend time with him. At first my parents said no, but I managed to convince them."

"Well, it sounds like a wonderful trip," Rachel said, smiling

"What did you do?" Tina asked.

"My fathers and I always stay here for the holidays," Rachel replied. "Daddy's family came Christmas Day, but other than that, it was just the three of us. I kind of like it like that, though; it makes everything much more peaceful and less stressful. Our family can be quite intense and exhausting when they get together."

"Tina!" Mercedes called from inside.

"It looks like you are being summoned," Rachel said, laughing.

As Tina started walking inside, Quinn's car pulled into the driveway and Rachel waved at her. Quinn waved back before cutting the ignition and getting out of her car. She reached into back seat and pulled out her overnight bag, which was one of her old Cheerios duffle bags.

"Looks like it's really starting to snow," Quinn commented as soon as she had the bag on her shoulder and was walking toward Rachel.

"According to the Weather Channel, we're supposed to get several inches by morning," Rachel replied.

"Hi," Quinn said, smiling whenever she reached Rachel.

"Hello," Rachel said, pulling Quinn into a quick hug.

"So, what goes on at these things," Quinn asked as she was led into the foyer by Rachel.

"I imagine what everyone does at a sleepover," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn laughed. "Obviously you've never been to a sleepover with Santana."

"Oh," Rachel said, furrowing her brows. "Well, we do what _normal_ people do at sleepovers."

"I'm so going to tell her you said that," Quinn said, smirking.

"No, please don't," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Can we start baking now?" Mercedes yelled from the kitchen.

"There's baking?" Quinn asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"We always fix cookies first thing and stuff ourselves the rest of the night," Rachel explained. "We usually sit around all night, eating junk food, gossiping, and watching movies or some television show."

"So, what are we making?" Quinn asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, girl," Mercedes said, dropping the cookbook on the counter and embracing the other girl. "Rachel didn't tell me you were coming."

"She invited me a few days ago," Quinn said, looking around. "I hope I'm not intruding,"

"Not at all," Mercedes brightly said. "Peanut butter or chocolate chip?"

"Both," Rachel said, opening up one of the drawers and pulling out a binder. "I will make my famous vegan chocolate chip cookies and you guys can do the peanut butter."

Quinn smiled as she watched everyone get to work and then walked over to Rachel. "Need any help? Although I have to say, I'm terrible at baking and will probably just screw it up."

Rachel shook her head. "You can just relax; there's three of them, so I'm sure they have it covered and I have made these so often that I mostly know the recipe by heart."

Quinn jumped onto the island and let her feet swing as she watched everyone work. Mercedes and Kurt were arguing about who had to stir the bowl, so Tina huffed and grabbed it from them. Rachel couldn't help but laugh; it happened every single time and she turned around, giving Quinn a look that said as much. Even though there were three of them working on the peanut butter cookies, Rachel was finished before they were and jumped onto the island, so she was sitting next to Quinn.

"So, what's on the agenda for tonight?" Kurt asked, licking some dough from his thumb.

"We could watch scary movies," Tina suggested as she put the balls of dough onto the cookie sheet.

"Veto," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, come on," Tina whined. "You always veto."

"That's because I hate scary movies," Rachel said, rolling her eyes. "How about we watch what someone was nice enough to get me as a present." Rachel flashed a smile at Quinn.

"Who got you what?" Kurt asked, looking over his shoulder at them.

"Quinn got me the entire series of Buffy," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn blushed. "She mentioned at Halloween that she had never seen it before."

"I haven't seen it, either," Kurt stated.

Mercedes was shaking her head. "Me neither."

Tina gasped. "How am I friends with you three."

Quinn laughed and high fived Tina. "See, there's one other person that gets it.

"The first batch of cookies should be out in about six minutes; we can grab them and then go settle into my room for the evening," Rachel said, looking at the timer.

As soon as the first batch of cookies was out, everyone relocated to Rachel's bedroom. Kurt was sprawled out at the end of the bed while the four girls had their backs resting against the headboard. Every now and then, they would have to pause the episode while Rachel and Tina went downstairs to check on the remaining cookies. By the time midnight rolled around, nearly all of the cookies had been devoured as well as two pizzas they had delivered.

"Puppets are so creepy," Rachel said, burying her face in her hands.

Quinn laughed. "Don't tell me _this_ scares you."

"I happen to have a very low tolerance for the horror genre," Rachel mumbled. "I've never understood the fascination with being scared. The world is scary enough without having to see it for so called entertainment."

"But this isn't scary," Quinn replied.

"Maybe not to you," Rachel said, peeking through her hands to make sure the puppet was gone.

"Whoa," Kurt said, looking up as the lights flickered.

Tina got off the bed and walked to the window. "Wow, it is completely covered."

"Let me see," Kurt said, jumping off the bed, and peeking out. "There's like a half a foot out there."

"The Weather Channel said only a few inches," Rachel said, frowning.

"Does this look like only a few inches?" Kurt asked, pulling the curtain back.

"Oh, wow," Quinn said, getting up to join everyone at the window.

"I just hope the power doesn't—" Everything suddenly went black and Rachel sighed. "—go out."

"Way to jinx it, Berry," Mercedes said, still sitting on the bed.

"I'll go find some candles," Rachel said, feeling her way to the door. "I'll be right back."

"You know, in horror movies, if you say 'I'll be right back' you're going to die, right?" Kurt said.

Rachel paused for a moment. "Will someone come with me?"

Quinn laughed. "I will."

Rachel stood at the door, with her hand out so Quinn wouldn't run into her; she felt the other girl's hand groping the air and grabbed it before it hit her. She then pulled them out of the room and slowly made her way down the hall.

"There are some candles and flashlights in the hall closet," Rachel said, feeling along the wall for the doorknob. "One second."

Her hand finally connected with the doorknob and she opened the closet; she couldn't see anything as she tried to reach the top shelf where everything was, but it was a bit out of her reach.

Rachel sighed. "Umm, Quinn?"

"Yes?" Quinn asked.

"I can't reach them; they're at the top." Rachel said, blushing; she was thankful Quinn couldn't see it.

Without saying a word, Quinn reached into the closet, easily removed one of the flashlights from the self, and handed it to Rachel. She turned it on and it hit directly on Quinn's face.

"Sorry," Rachel said, pointing it away

"It's okay, I'm just a little—blind." Quinn blinked rapidly before turning to grab the rest of the stuff off the shelf.

Rachel led them back into her bedroom, tossed a flashlight on the bed, and then started putting a few candles around the room. Quinn took several out the brunette's arms and started lighting them as well.

"So what do we do now," Tina asked, looking around at everyone.

"Well, it looks like the power is out all over the block, so I doubt it's going to be on anytime soon," Kurt said. "We could go to sleep. I'm actually kind of beat."

"Works for me," Mercedes said, shrugging.

Rachel huffed. "We couldn't have decided that before we lit all the candles.

Kurt laughed. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Rachel said, waving him off as she went to her closet and pulled out a pink sleeping bag. "You four can take the bed; I'll sleep on the floor."

"I don't think four of us are going to sleep in this thing," Mercedes said, dubiously looking at the bed.

"I can take the floor, too," Quinn replied. "Do you have another sleeping bag?"

Rachel threw the one in her hands to Quinn and pulled another out of the closet. She and Quinn put their sleeping bags near each other, on the left side of the bed, and then Rachel walked around and blew out all the candles after everyone was settled in the bed. It didn't take long for Rachel to realize how cold it was getting and she started shivering slightly.

"Hey—Rachel," Quinn whispered.

"Yeah," Rachel asked.

"Are you shaking?" Quinn asked.

"It's a bit chilly in here," Rachel replied, snuggling further into her sleeping bag.

"Do you have more blankets in here?" Quinn asked.

"Just the ones on the bed," Rachel whispered back.

Rachel heard Quinn sigh and start shifting. The next thing she knew, Quinn's arm was wrapping around her and the blonde was lightly pressed again her back.

"Better?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded and found herself scooting closer to Quinn. "Thank you."

"I was sort of freezing, too," Quinn whispered, laughing quietly.

Rachel sighed to herself. "Goodnight, Quinn."

"Goodnight, Rachel," Quinn said, resting her head on Rachel's pillow.

Rachel couldn't help but smile; it still amazed her how far she and Quinn had come. A year ago—in Quinn's time anyway—the blonde had been hurling insults at her. She didn't know if Quinn's change in attitude was because she had feelings for her or if it was something else, but Rachel appreciated it either way. Somehow, she found herself laying there thinking how Quinn would be a much better girlfriend than Finn ever was at being a boyfriend. She didn't have to say a word and Quinn was trying to make her more comfortable; if it had been Finn, he would have never noticed, told her not to complain, or just started whining about how _he_ was cold.

"Why aren't you asleep?" Quinn whispered into her ear after a while.

Rachel giggled. "How did you know I wasn't?"

"I can tell by your breathing," Quinn replied. "Are you still too cold?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, I'm fine now."

"Then what is it?" Quinn asked.

"It's nothing," Rachel said, running her fingers along Quinn's arm. "I was just thinking."

"Go to sleep, Berry," Quinn ordered, but Rachel could hear the smile in her voice.

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe Puck is having this party," Kurt said, looking out his window.<p>

"Have you ever known Puck to cancel a party?" Mercedes asked, laughing.

"But there's no power," Kurt said, gesturing around.

"Did you really think that would stop Noah," Rachel asked, glancing at Kurt out of the corner of her eye.

She expected the power to be on by morning, but when they woke up, it was still out. Puck had sent a mass text telling everyone that the party was still on and to BYOC. Everyone's first thought was bring your own condoms, but then Rachel reasoned that it was bring your own candle. Kurt wanted them all to stay at Rachel's since he also seemed to have a phobia of riding in a car in the snow as well, but everyone eventually talked him into going. So, Rachel was driving him, Mercedes, and Tina to the party while Quinn followed in her car; her mother wanted her back before midnight and Quinn reluctantly agreed so she would stop bugging her.

"Sup, ladies!" Puck greeted them as soon as they started piling out of the car.

"Hello, Noah," Rachel said, accepting a hug from him.

"You brought candles, right?" Puck asked. "Most of the people thought I meant condoms."

"Told you," Rachel said, turning to the rest of the group. "Yes, Noah, we brought candles and flashlights.

"Excellent," Puck said, offering his arm to Rachel. "Let's go get this party started."

The group walked in and Tina immediately sought out Mike while Kurt went off to find Blaine; Mercedes looked around and ducked her head shyly when Sam waved at her from the couch. Rachel noticed the action and thought it was cute that they were so flirty and shy around one another. She thought about helping them along, but figured they didn't need any help and would get there eventually if she just left them alone since it did happen before.

Rachel looked around and groaned slightly when she saw Finn sitting on the floor of the living room. She knew he would probably be here, but was hoping he wouldn't be. Ever since he kissed her and she shoved him away, he hadn't said anything to her, but looked like a wounded puppy every time she glanced in his direction and it was really starting to annoy her.

"Can you help me set these up?" Puck asked, gesturing to the bag in Rachel's hand.

"Oh, sure," Rachel said, opening the bag for Puck to grab some of the candles.

"Just set that bag somewhere and we'll save those in case the others run out." Puck looked around the room and got to work with setting them out.

Rachel stashed the bag in the closet and went back to help Puck light the candles that he had been setting them around the room. When they had entered, it was quite dark, but after they were done, it was fairly bright in the place.

"So, what exactly are we doing at this party?" Sam asked. "I mean no power means no music and we can't even watch the ball drop or anything."

Puck momentarily looked confused. "Well, we can drink."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You don't have anything planned?"

Puck shrugged. "No—not exactly. Don't give me that look; I had things planned, but then the power went out and I thought spending New Year's with you guys in the dark was better than nothing."

"Sorry," Rachel whispered, sighing.

She knew this was all such a big deal to Puck because he knew what it was like to be without everyone. While Rachel had remained friends with most of the group, he had exiled himself in the future. She could tell how much he missed everyone when he talked about everything and she knew it was why he was having so many parties just for the Glee Club.

"Hey, bitches," Santana said, opening the front door.

Brittany smacked her on the arm. "That's not very nice."

Santana smirked and walked into the house like she owned the place. "I'm bored; entertain me."

"That's actually what we were discussing," Rachel said, looking at the brunette.

"We could play spin the bottle," Brittany suggested.

"No," half the group said in unison.

Brittany started pouting and Santana turned to glare at everyone. "So what are your brilliant ideas?"

Everyone bickered for nearly an hour before everyone finally agreed to play Cranium. It wasn't the most exciting way to spend New Year's, but without power, their options were limited. Most of the group didn't want to be humiliated, so that knocked out Brittany's suggestions of Truth or Dare and I Never, which caused them to be glared at again by Santana. In the end, they paired up in teams of three: Santana, Brittany, and Quinn; Tina, Mike, and Mercedes; Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel; and since there was an odd number, Puck, Finn, Artie, and Sam. Rachel had noticed that Rory and Sugar weren't there, but Puck told her he hadn't invited either of them. She assumed he was still a little bitter about the Nationals debacle as well.

By the time they had finished the second round, it was nearly eleven thirty and Rachel was done. Her team had lost both rounds because somehow Brittany kept guessing the most ridiculous things, putting their team in the lead. How she ever guessed Santana was acting out 'free range chicken' was beyond her imagination.

"I'm out," Rachel said, standing up.

"Come on," Sam whined. "This game is fun."

"There's four on your team; one of you can take over my spot," Rachel stated. "Now, I'm going to go get some fresh air."

It was fairly cool in the house since the only heat was from the fireplace, but after running around like an idiot as she acted out the cards, she was feeling a little warm. She grabbed her coat and walked outside; it was freezing out, but it felt nice. She released a long breath, watching it fog the air in front of her face. When she looked up, she was amazed at how easily she could see the stars; there were no lights around, so they were more visible than she had ever seen—with the exception of the one time she, Kurt, Blaine, and Finn took an ill-fated camping trip.

She was still looking at the stars when a cold, wet, projectile hit the back of her head. Her mouth opened in shock and she heard giggling behind her. When she turned around to see who had thrown the snowball, she was surprised to find Quinn standing there with her hand covering her mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Quinn!" Rachel said, still shocked that the blonde would do that.

Quinn reached down to grab another handful of snow and chucked it at Rachel; the brunette was still too stunned to act so it hit her in the chest, breaking apart, and flicking snow all over her face. By the time Quinn went to get a third handful, Rachel snapped out of her daze and grabbed a snowball of her own, throwing it at the other girl. It missed Quinn by several feet, though, and Quinn took cover behind the storage building that was only a few yards away. Rachel was ready with another snowball when Quinn poked her head out from behind the building and it smacked her right in the face. Rachel couldn't help it as she doubled over, laughing at the look on Quinn's face.

"Oh, you think that's funny, do you?" Quinn asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Very," Rachel choked out between laughs.

Quinn walked over to Rachel and the brunette knew she was in trouble judging by the look on the blonde's face, but she still couldn't stop laughing.

"Are you done, yet?" Quinn asked, narrowing her eyes.

"In my defense, you did start it," Rachel said as her laughter died down.

"And I'm going to be the one to finish it," Quinn whispered, dumping a pile of snow over Rachel's head.

Rachel gasped when the cold snow went down the front of her shirt. "That is so not fair."

Quinn smirked at her and Rachel dove for the blonde, knocking them into the snow. This time, Quinn gasped at the coldness as the snow soaked into her clothes. Rachel was laughing again and Quinn started glaring at her.

"Thanks, now I'm soaked," Quinn said, huffing.

"And I'm not?" Rachel asked, smiling down at her.

Quinn shook her head and smiled too. "I came out here to say goodnight; if I don't leave now, I won't get back in time for midnight, and then my mother will make me feel bad about it tomorrow." Quinn rolled her eyes. "Why can't she be like other parents and not care?"

Rachel laughed. "Then you would be complaining about that, too."

Quinn huffed again and then cracked a smile. "True."

"So, I guess I'll see you at school on Monday," Rachel said.

"I guess so," Quinn whispered.

Quinn was staring at her so intently that Rachel couldn't help but stare back. The blonde's hand gently reached up and knocked some snow out of Rachel's hair and the brunette's breath hitched. She could see the hesitation and fear in the other girl's eyes and she just wanted to tell her that it would be okay. Before any words came out, though, Quinn hesitantly leaned up on her elbows, her face only inches from hers.

Rachel swallowed thickly; she knew what was coming and knew she should move, but she couldn't seem to. When Quinn's lips finally gently brushed hers, Rachel's eyes fluttered shut. The kiss was light and Rachel found her hand coming up to cup the other girl's cheek, trying to pull her closer. It was so different than any kiss she had experienced before; it wasn't at all forceful or hurried. It was uncertain and gentle and made Rachel's heart and mind both race.

After a moment, though, without a word, Quinn pulled back and quickly scrambled off the ground. Rachel looked up at her in surprise as Quinn looked back with a look of complete shock on her face.

"Quinn!" Rachel called after her as she started walking, but the blonde didn't stop.

Rachel groaned and put her forehead against the snow covered ground before jumping up and following Quinn into the house.

"Have you seen Quinn?" she asked the group.

"She left," Puck said through a mouthful of chips, pointing toward the front door.

Rachel rushed outside just in time so see Quinn pulling out of the driveway. She sighed to herself as she watched the blonde drive away. At least now she knew Quinn's feelings for her, but now Rachel couldn't figure out why she ran, and more importantly, why did she kiss Quinn back?

* * *

><p><strong>Good news for me…Sunday I am getting on a plane and going to London for nearly two weeks. The good news for you is that I've been working my ass off and I'm now several chapters ahead and our hotel is supposed to have internet, so you will get your usual weekly update.<strong>

**Hopefully you weren't too disappointed by their first kiss. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. **


	15. Easier To Run

**I'm happy most of you seemed to like the kiss and I actually apologize for so many of you worrying about Quinn. For some reason it didn't even occur to me that people would think she might get in an accident; I can completely see why you might think that, but it never entered my mind.**

**wunderwolfer: My biggest thing I did to prepare for this trip was write; I had to get three chapters of this story done so I could then write two for my other story. You call it commitment, but I call it stupidity on my part lol. It's okay now that it's done, but it's been a stressful few weeks.**

**Queen Nan: Sorry, but don't take it out on London ;). I'm glad you love both stories, though.**

**shmo89: My girlfriend finally read this story and has been sort of asking me the same thing, but I really don't know if I'm good enough for that. Thank you for the compliment, though.**

**LuckyTurn: It is my goal in life to meet someone that reads one of my stories, so feel free to ask random strangers if they're me.**

**You all are lucky you're getting this; my hotel in London has some seriously spotty internet, but it finally stayed connected long enough to post so enjoy...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15 – Easier To Run<strong>

Rachel spent the entire weekend trying to call Quinn, but her calls always went straight to voicemail. She wanted to make sure the other girl was okay and it was frustrating that she was ignoring her and Rachel didn't even really know why. Quinn had kissed her, so why was _she_ the one running away?

Rachel went to the bleachers Monday morning in hopes of Quinn being there, but as she figured, the blonde didn't show up. Rachel waited as long as possible and even ended up late for first period, which had never happened before. She checked the halls between classes, but either Quinn was just really good at avoiding her or she didn't come to school at all that day. By the time lunch rolled around, Rachel gave up looking for the other girl and sought out Santana instead. Luckily, it was a lot easier to find her since she was sitting at their usual table in the lunchroom.

"Santana, where's Quinn?" she asked as soon as she sat down next to the other girl.

"Well, hello to you too," Santana replied. "Haven't seen her."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Do you know where she is?"

"Home," Santana answered.

"Why is she home?" Rachel asked, huffing.

"Don't kill the messenger," Santana said, holding her hands up. "It's not my fault she skipped today."

"And you're saying it's my fault?" Rachel asked.

"No," Santana said, giving her a funny look. "Go away, Berry, you're being all paranoid today."

"I'm sorry," Rachel sighed, pausing for a moment. "Do you happen to know why she's skipping school?"

"She didn't say," Santana said, shrugging. "I assumed she's sick or something."

So now Quinn was skipping school just to avoid her; it was bad enough that she was ignoring her calls, but now she was missing out on her education.

"Where are you going?" Santana asked as Rachel quickly stood up.

"Quinn's," Rachel called over her shoulder.

Rachel was already out of the cafeteria and in the hall when she heard footsteps running up behind her.

"Whoa, Berry," Santana said, putting her hand on Rachel's shoulders.

"What," Rachel asked, turning around.

"You're just going to skip school?" she asked, looking surprised and possibly slightly impress. "What happened with Quinn that can't wait until tomorrow?"

"I just—I really need to talk to her," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"If she's missing school today, maybe there's a reason for it," Santana stated. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk and you know how she gets; if she doesn't want to talk, she's going to hurt you again just to get you away from her."

Rachel sighed. "I know, but I need to talk to her whether she wants to or not."

"What happened that you need to find her so badly?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Nothing," Rachel lied, turning around to talk away.

"You're making a mistake, Berry," Santana called after her.

"Probably," Rachel agreed as she walked away.

She snuck out of school without anyone seeing her; she hoped she could talk to Quinn quickly and make it back before lunch was over, before anyone ever noticed she was gone. When she got to the blonde's house, she marched up to the door and rang the doorbell three times before stepping back. She waited several minutes, but no one ever answered the door, so she started pounding on it for a solid minute. When that didn't work, she sighed and leaned her head against the wood.

"Quinn!" she tried yelling. "Will you please talk to me? I've been calling your phone every hour, but you turned it off and I thought you would be at school, but then you weren't and now I'm skipping school and you won't even answer the door. Me! Skipping school!" Rachel sighed. "Please, just open the door and talk to me." Rachel rang the bell several more times as she stood there. "Why did you run away like that? You kissed me and then you ran and I don't understand. I don't know if you're confused or just scared that I would be angry with you, but I'm not; I just want to talk to you and see if you're okay."

She didn't know if Quinn was on the other side of the door or not, but she didn't care; she needed to say it in the off chance that Quinn was listening to her.

"Please, Quinn, open the door and talk to me or if you don't want to see me, turn on your phone and call me," Rachel said, trying again. "Hell, text me if you need to!" Rachel closed her eyes. "Just let me know you're okay, please? I don't care how you do it; just stop letting me worry about you because it isn't fair. I don't deserve this."

Rachel finally walked away from the door, and with one glance back, got in her car. She drove back to school, feeling dejected, and just made it in time before the bell was going to ring. When she parked her car, she made sure to look out for any teachers that might see her, but she didn't see anyone else in the parking lot. She quickly ran to the building and went through one of the back entrances, hoping she was less likely to be seen. When she got inside the building, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Berry!"

Rachel jumped and turned around to see Santana smirking at her.

"Not funny," Rachel said, smacking the other girl's arm.

"Maybe not for you, but it was very funny to me," Santana said, laughing.

Rachel crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "How did you know I would be here?"

"I knew Quinn would never talk to you if she was avoiding you and obviously you would want to get back before lunch was over and I figured if you had half a brain, you would come in through the back," Santana said, cocking her eyebrow. "It's how me and Britt sneak back in when we skip out to her car."

Rachel's face scrunched up. "That's where you disappear to at lunch sometimes?"

Santana smirked. "Better than doing it in the locker room."

"Okay, too much information," Rachel said, holding her hand up.

Santana sighed. "So, I guess I don't have to ask how it went with Q."

Rachel shook her head. "I rang, I knocked—she wouldn't answer. I don't even know if she was there, but I sort of rambled at the door for several minutes."

Santana gasped. "You ramble?"

"This isn't funny," Rachel whined.

Santana laughed. "Okay, okay—I'll attempt to be more serious."

"Thank you," Rachel said, huffing.

"Are you going to at least tell me why Quinn isn't talking to you right now?" Santana asked.

"I don't really know why," Rachel answered. "I know what it's because of, but I don't know why."

"Well, that cleared it right up," Santana said, glaring at her.

"Sorry," Rachel mumbled.

"Listen—whatever it is, don't give up on Q," Santana advised. "I know she can be annoying sometimes, but she needs someone that isn't going to give up on her completely."

Rachel smiled. "It never even crossed my mind."

"I guess it's a good thing she found a friend as stubborn as you," Santana said, smirking.

* * *

><p>The next day, Rachel looked everywhere for the blonde, but she still didn't seem to be at school. It was possible she was just avoiding her, though, so Rachel sought out Santana again to see if she knew whether or not Quinn was there.<p>

"Sorry, Berry," Santana said, shaking her head. "I called her last night and she said she was sick and wasn't going to be here again."

Rachel huffed. "Did she sound sick?"

Santana shrugged. "Now are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Sorry," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"I asked Q, but she did that same vague shit that you pulled yesterday," Santana said, scowling. "I don't know which of you screwed up this time, but you need to fix it. Quinn sounded all mopey and you're walking around like a crazy person trying to find her. You're both a little scary right now."

"How can I fix anything when she won't talk to me?" Rachel asked exasperatedly.

"So it _was_ your fault," Santana said, smirking at her.

"I didn't say that." Rachel crossed her arms and scowled.

"But why would you be the one to fix it if she was the one that screwed up?" Santana reasoned, cocking her eyebrow. "Besides, why would she be avoiding you if it was something she did?"

"I know what you're doing," Rachel stated, pointing her finger at the other girl. "You think if you keep theorizing, I'll tell you're wrong, so you can figure out what's going on, but it's not going to happen."

"Dammit," Santana said, scowling.

"Nice try," Rachel said, patting Santana's shoulder.

Rachel felt slightly better after talking to Santana, but the feeling was brief. As soon as she walked away, she saw Quinn's locker and was reminded of what was going on. Quinn was running—Quinn was running from her and it hurt her more than she could explain. All she wanted to do was find the blonde and hold on tight to keep her from pulling away. She just wanted to talk to her, but Quinn was making it impossible.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" Kurt asked when she leaned beside his locker.

"No," Rachel said, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Kurt asked, his face full of sympathy and concern.

"It's Quinn," Rachel whispered.

"What about her?" Kurt asked and then started looking around. "And speaking of Quinn, where is she? She wasn't here yesterday, was she?"

Rachel sniffed. "No."

"Hey," Kurt said, pulling her into a hug.

Rachel sighed and leaned into the embrace. "She's been ignoring me since Saturday night; I've tried calling a hundred times and I even skipped school during lunch yesterday to go to her house. She either turned off her phone or just hits reject when she sees it's me and she wouldn't answer her door and now she's skipping school so she doesn't have to see me."

"What happened Saturday night?" Kurt gently asked.

"Well, I finally figured out who you were talking about," Rachel whispered, shaking her head, and pulling away. "At first I thought surely you weren't talking about her of all people; I mean—it's Quinn. How could she ever like me, but then she kissed me that night and then she ran off and I haven't talked to her since because she's ignoring me now."

Kurt's eyes widened during her little speech. "Quinn kissed you?"

"Yes," Rachel replied.

"Did you—was it—how was it?" Kurt finally asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said, pacing in front of him. "It was—different. Quinn is one of my best friends and she's gorgeous, but I've never really kissed a girl before and it's all very confusing."

Kurt smirked. "So you didn't hate it."

"No," Rachel said, pausing her pacing. "It was kind of—nice, I guess.

"Well, now that we've established that Quinn does indeed like you and you finally realized it, do you have feelings for her?" Kurt asked.

Rachel looked around for a moment and then grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him into a nearby empty classroom. She shut the door to make sure no one would overhear their conversation and then turned toward Kurt.

"I don't know," Rachel finally answered.

Kurt nodded. "You don't know?"

"Last week I would have said no, but now I don't know," Rachel said, sitting on the edge of a desk. "She's gorgeous; any person with eyes can see that. I'm obviously very opened minded and the idea of dating a girl is something I have always been open to. The thing is, though—it's Quinn; she used to treat me like I was the most worthless human being in the world. So, while she's gorgeous, I've never let my mind go there; it's probably a self-preservation thing. I was already mercilessly picked on for years; could you imagine if anyone ever found out that I had a thing for Quinn Fabray?"

"So, did you or did you not have a thing for her?" Kurt asked, confused.

"No!" Rachel replied. "Well, I don't think I did, anyway."

"Let me ask it like this," Kurt said, standing in front of her. "Does Quinn ever give you that feeling like you have butterflies when you see her or when you think of her? Does just knowing you're going to see her later make you excited to come to school? Because that's when I really realized how much I had fallen for Blaine."

"I—yeah," Rachel said, frowning.

"What are the first three things you think of when you hear her name?" Kurt asked.

"Beautiful, intelligent, and special," Rachel answered without hesitation.

"Why special?" Kurt asked.

"Because what you see isn't what you get when it comes to her," Rachel replied. "Most people still think of her as the Head Bitch in Charge or the Ice Queen, but she's actually really sweet and funny and even dorky." Rachel couldn't help but smile. "She constantly surprises me; just when I think I have her figured out, she does something and I realize I don't know her at all. She's always been sort of a mystery to me in many ways; I know her yet I don't know her." Kurt was smirking and Rachel eyed him curiously. "What?"

"Nothing," Kurt said, shrugging.

Rachel huffed. "No, seriously; what?"

"You like Quinn," Kurt stated.

"Oh, god, I do," Rachel said, burying her head in her hands.

Kurt laughed. "You're really just _now_ realizing this?"

"I told you that it's a self-preservation thing," Rachel said, huffing.

"Well, now that you've sorted out your feelings, what are you going to do about it?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Quinn is still avoiding me and even if I am attracted to her—this is all too new and confusing and I don't want to hurt her if everything goes wrong. That's _if_ she even wants me; it could have been a mistake and she's embarrassed by it and that's why she's avoiding me. So, my first goal is to get her to talk to me and I guess I'll see where it goes from there, so right now I can't really say much else."

"Fair enough," Kurt said, walking up to Rachel and wrapping her in a hug. "This is so much better than when you confessed you liked Finn."

Rachel chuckled. "Can you please not tell anyone? I don't think Quinn would appreciate it if she knew I told you and I don't want her to feel like she can't trust me, but I really needed to talk to someone about this and it was better you than Santana."

"My lips are sealed," Kurt replied, smiling.

Rachel sighed into his shoulder; this was all getting much more complicated than she had anticipated. Quinn Fabray had kissed her and now she realized she might have less than platonic feelings back. She wondered how long she had actually had those feelings buried deep inside, but it was hard to tell. When Quinn died, she did everything she could not to think of the blonde and had been successful at it. Now, though, the blonde wasn't giving her much choice but to confront how she felt about her.

* * *

><p>"Any sign of her?" Kurt asked, walking up next to Rachel as she made her way down the hall.<p>

The brunette sighed. "No, but she had to come back eventually, right? She can't skip school for the rest of her life just to avoid seeing me. It's already been three days; anymore and she's going to need a doctor's excuse and since I don't think she's actually ill, she's going to have to come back."

"Right," Kurt said, nodding. "Have you worked out what you're going to say to her when you do see her?"

"No," Rachel replied.

He had asked her the same thing the morning before, but she still didn't have anything worked out. Every time she would think of something, it just sounded wrong in her head. She was always one to have everything planned out before she went into a situation such as finally seeing Quinn again, but she was coming up blank.

"But you always have a plan," Kurt stated.

"Not when it comes to Quinn," Rachel mumbled.

Santana was walking her way and when she got close enough, Rachel opened her mouth to greet the other girl, but Santana looped her arm around Rachel's and started dragging her backwards.

"Hey!" Rachel said, squeaking indignantly.

Santana didn't say anything as she pulled Rachel down the hall and nearly shoved her into the bathroom.

"Out!" she demanded of a scared looking freshman.

The girl made a hasty exit and Rachel watched her with pity. "Did you really have to be mean to her?"

Santana scoffed. "We're not in here for you to bitch about me scaring some freshman."

"What are we here for, then?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"Quinn," Santana stated.

"What about her," Rachel casually asked.

"What the hell is going on with you two?" Santana asked. "It's Thursday and Quinn hasn't been to school all week and now she's even ignoring _my_ calls."

"Why would she be ignoring you?" Rachel asked.

"I might have told her the other night that she needed to get her shit together," Santana said, shrugging. "She didn't seem very happy and hung up on me."

"Then that's your fault, not mine," Rachel replied.

"But it is your fault," Santana said, stepping closer to Rachel. "Whatever you did is the reason she's in this pissy mood."

"I didn't do anything," Rachel said, stomping her foot.

"Fix it!" Santana demanded.

"I didn't do anything!" Rachel yelled back.

Santana pierced her with one last glare and walked toward the door, slamming it behind her. Rachel rolled her eyes at the other girl's behavior and smoothed her hair down before walking out as well. As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, though, she came face to face with Quinn. Rachel's mouth flapped open and closed a few times, and by the time her brain finally registered that she needed to say something, Quinn was walking away from her.

"Quinn, wait!" Rachel yelled.

When Quinn didn't stop walking, Rachel's brain finally told her feet to move and she started running down the hall.

"Quinn, please," Rachel pleaded, but the other girl ignored her and walked into one of the classrooms.

Rachel followed her in, expecting other people to be in the class, but it was empty except for the two of them. Rachel looked around in surprise and then turned to look at Quinn, who was facing away from her.

"What?" Quinn quietly asked.

"I—" Rachel didn't know what to say and was internally cursing herself for not thinking of something the night before. "You're back."

"Clearly," Quinn replied.

Rachel huffed. "Can you at least turn around and talk to me?"

Quinn did turn around; she was looking at her in a way that would normally have made Rachel back away, but she stood her ground.

"What do you want?" Quinn asked.

"I want to know why you've been out of school for three days," Rachel answered. "I want to know why you ignored all my calls, but still talked to Santana. I want to know why you ran away the other night after you kissed me."

"We are not talking about this," Quinn gritted out, but Rachel thought she was starting to look more scared than angry.

"Why not?" Rachel asked, frustrated.

"Because there's nothing to talk about," Quinn replied.

Rachel gave her a disbelieving look. "Of course there's something to talk about!"

"No, there isn't," Quinn replied, crossing her arms. "It was a mistake and nothing more."

Rachel gaped at Quinn as the blonde breezed by and left her standing alone in the room. She took a deep breath and shook her head; Quinn was in full denial mode right now and Rachel didn't know what to do about it.

When she left the classroom, she noticed Kurt watching her as he grabbed some books out of his locker, so she walked over to him and he looked at her intently.

"I see Quinn is back," Kurt commented.

"Yep," Rachel replied.

"Didn't go very well, I presume," Kurt said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"She doesn't want to talk about it and the only thing she did say about it was that it was a mistake," Rachel said, shaking her head.

Kurt gave her a sympathetic look. "She's just scared; give her time."

"Scary is more like it," Rachel replied. "That was like looking at sophomore Quinn back there."

"What did you even say to her?" Kurt asked, putting his arm around Rachel.

"I questioned her about why she's been ignoring me and why she ran away that night," Rachel replied, shrugging. "I really didn't know what to say to her when she was looking at me like that."

"Do you want me to attempt to talk to her?" Kurt offered. "I don't even have to say why I'm talking to her; I could simply say I was checking on her since I noticed she had been absent from school."

Rachel shook her head. "It's fine; this is something I have to do. If she thinks people are ganging up on her, she'll get even more defensive and then I'll be even less likely to get anywhere with her. I need to keep trying and not let her behavior deter me; it'll be the only way to get through to her."

"Good luck," Kurt said, patting her on the back.

Rachel noticed Santana coming her way again and scowled at her, but the other girl grabbed her arm again and pulled her back into the same bathroom.

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms. "You know, there are other ways to get me in here—like simply asking to speak with me."

"Where's the fun in that?" Santana asked, shrugging.

"What now?" Rachel asked.

"I saw that Quinn was back," Santana replied. "Did you fix it?"

Rachel sighed in exasperation. "I don't know how to fix it, Santana!"

Santana scoffed. "Yes, you do."

"No, I don't!" Rachel said, getting annoyed now.

"You're Rachel Berry; if you can get my ass to stop running from Britt, you can fix anything," Santana stated.

"That's very kind of you to say, but Quinn is even more difficult than you sometimes," Rachel said, shaking her head as she leaned against the wall. "She won't talk to me."

"She doesn't need to talk to you," Santana replied. "You just need to get her to listen to you. Sometimes, you're pretty good with words and whether people want to or not, they can't help but listen to you."

"Can you get Quinn in the choir room in the morning?" Rachel asked. "She has to think she's meeting you there; she can't know it's me or she'll never agree to the meeting."

"I don't think she'll want to meet me either," Santana replied.

Rachel nodded. "Then Brittany; make her think she's meeting her."

"Brittany won't lie," Santana replied. "Although, she is coming over tonight; maybe I can borrow her phone and send a text to Quinn."

"That'll work," Rachel said, smiling sadly. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said back.

* * *

><p>Rachel was walking to the choir room the next morning and she could hear piano playing coming from inside the room. It appeared Santana had kept up her end and had gotten Quinn to the choir room, but now the really hard part was going to be begin. Rachel had to get Quinn to listen to her without running away and that was easier said than done. Rachel still wasn't sure what to say and it probably wouldn't matter if she did; the second Quinn looked at her, any speech she had prepared was going to fly out of her head.<p>

Rachel paused; her hand was on the doorknob and she took a deep, steadying breath. She couldn't delay for long, but she needed a moment to collect herself. She kept telling herself over and over again that this was just Quinn, but it didn't seem to help anymore. Quinn was never just Quinn and she was only realizing it now. The other girl had always managed to make her nervous on some level and now that nervousness had quadrupled.

After one last deep breath, she slowly turned the knob and walked into the room. Quinn's back was to the door and she was still playing, so she hadn't even realized anyone had entered the room. Rachel walked up so she was standing directly behind the blonde and cleared her throat, alerting the other girl to her presence.

Quinn immediately stopped playing and looked over her shoulder. When she saw it was Rachel, she rolled her eyes and stiffly asked, "What do you want."

"I just want you to listen to me," Rachel said.

"What makes you think I want to listen to you?" Quinn replied, turning back around.

"I don't care if you want to listen to me, you're going to," Rachel haughtily said, but inside she was feeling much less sure of herself than she was trying to sound.

"I don't know why you ran that night and you don't have to tell me, but I'm letting you know that I don't know," Rachel began. "I don't know if it really was a mistake like you said or if you were just scared or you thought I would be angry. It could have been any number of reasons and I really wish you would tell me instead of trying to make me figure it out on my own. I know you told me it was a mistake, but I don't think it was a mistake to you. I-I think you like me. You have no idea how weird it is to say those words, but I think you do. I don't know if you simply realized it that night and that's why you left or if you've known for a while, but I think it's true."

Rachel was waiting for Quinn to contradict her, but the blonde remained seated on the piano bench, looking away from her. She knew she was lucky that the other girl was even still in the room.

"I get that you're scared or confused and I'm confused too," Rachel admitted. "I had never kissed a girl before, but it was nice and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I sort of have feelings for you." Rachel noticed Quinn's posture stiffen. "I don't know when it happened, but somewhere along the way it _did_ happen and it took someone else to open my eyes to it since sometimes I can apparently be a little oblivious."

Rachel chanced a few steps toward Quinn and ended up standing in front of the blonde, who was staring at the piano keys. "Am I wrong about everything? Honestly tell me I am and I will never say anything else about it. Just—please stop avoiding me. I know you're scared and nothing has to happen, but I don't want to lose one of my best friends because you and Kurt—you two are my best friends. I hate thinking you might be angry with me because the last thing I want is our friendship to be destroyed."

"I'm not angry with you," Quinn whispered.

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief; Quinn had actually spoken to her and she wasn't angry with her. "That's good to hear."

"I don't have any answers for you," Quinn stated. "Not right now."

"I can handle that," Rachel replied. "I won't force you to talk to me about it, but I'm not going to let you ignore me, either."

Quinn nodded and quietly said, "Okay."

"I'll leave you alone, now," Rachel said, wanting to give Quinn a hug but refraining. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," Quinn said again.

Rachel walked out of the choir room and shut the door behind her. Santana was standing just outside the room and jumped when she saw her come out.

"How did it go?" Santana immediately asked.

Rachel sighed. "I'm not sure, but at least she said she isn't angry with me and she agreed not to ignore me anymore, so that's something."

"Now if we can get the bitch to stop moping around," Santana replied.

"Be nice to her," Rachel instructed. "I know you don't know what's going on, but just trust me, okay?"

"When am I ever nice?" Santana asked, scoffing.

"More than you care to admit," Rachel said, smirking.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Rachel shook her head, smiling. "I will see you at lunch."

It was still early, so Rachel walked around the hall until she came across Kurt and Tina. Tina waved to her when she saw her and Rachel walked up to the duo.

"Hey!" Tina greeted.

Rachel smiled. "Good morning, Tina."

"Are you doing okay?" Kurt asked, skipping the greeting.

"I'm doing better," she replied, giving him a look, and he nodded in understanding.

"There's Mike," Tina said, looking down the hall. "I'll see you guys later."

"So, better, huh?" Kurt said as soon as Tina was out of earshot.

"I talked to Quinn this morning," Rachel said, nodding. "Well, I talked and she listened. Nothing is really settled and she wouldn't say anything to me, but I think she's going to stop ignoring me, which is better than where we were at yesterday. Hopefully I can continue to make progress with her and this will all be a thing of the past."

"And then you can get your sweet lady kisses on'" Kurt said, laughing.

Rachel cringed. "Don't ever use that phrase again—ever."

"I'm happy for you, sweetie," Kurt said, smiling. "When you talked to her, did you tell her how you feel?"

"Sort of," Rachel replied. "I couldn't tell her too much because I don't even know the extent of what I'm feeling. Maybe now that she's talking to me again, I'll be able to figure the rest out."

"Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, you know I'm always here to help," Kurt said, looking over her shoulder, and waving at Blaine.

"Go," Rachel said, laughing.

"I don't have to," Kurt replied, looking torn.

"I'm better now, so go see your boyfriend," Rachel said.

Kurt gave her a quick hug and then Rachel watched him walk down the hall to greet Blaine. Finn was walking down the hall and looked like he might be walking toward her, but the bell rang, so Rachel started walking away before he could get to her. Reliving her senior year was proving to be way more complicated than it ever was the first time around.

* * *

><p><strong>Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated.<strong>


	16. It's Ok

**Somehow when writing this chapter it went from "This chapter isn't going to be long enough!" to "Wow, this is like the longest chapter I've written for this story."**

**Nightlancer600: London is good, but exhausting. I get to go to the Harry Potter studio tour tomorrow, though, which is the thing I'm probably most excited for.**

**cjsrey: It's still gonna be a bit.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16 – <strong>It's Ok<strong>**

Rachel walked toward the bleachers and was surprised to see Quinn sitting on the top row; it had been over a week since their discussion in the choir room and Rachel still felt like the other girl was avoiding her. Maybe not completely avoiding her, but she hadn't been alone with the blonde since they talked. Quinn would show up at lunch and Glee, she would say hello back when Rachel greeted her, she would even respond when Rachel tried to talk to her, but she never sought her out or tried to talk to her if Rachel wasn't the one to start the conversation. Rachel tried to not let it bother her; she knew the other needed time, but she really missed spending time with her. Maybe her being here was a sign that she was ready to talk, though, so Rachel was taking it as a sign that maybe things would go back to normal now.

Quinn had her face buried in a book when Rachel approached her and she didn't look up even though Rachel's footsteps were loud against the metal bleachers. The other girl appeared to be in deep concentration and Rachel almost felt bad about interrupting her.

"Hello, Quinn," Rachel said apprehensively.

Quinn finally looked up. "Hey."

"Good book?" Rachel asked, nodding to it.

"Terrible book," Quinn said, laughing lightly.

"Why are you reading it, then?" Rachel asked, sitting down a respectable distance from the other girl.

Quinn shrugged. "Once I start a book, I feel like I have to finish it whether I want to or not."

"That's—weird," Rachel replied.

"I know," Quinn agreed, smiling.

"How was your weekend?" Rachel asked, fidgeting with the sleeve of her coat, not really knowing what else to talk about.

"It was fine," Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel nodded. "Good."

"Yeah," Quinn replied.

They fell silent and Rachel looked out toward the football field; football season was long over, so there was no one around, but Rachel was avoiding looking at Quinn and it was the most interesting thing around. She hated that things were this awkward between them; she just wanted things to go back to the way they were, but she didn't know if that could happen now.

"I'm sorry," Quinn suddenly said, causing Rachel to jump at the noise.

"What for?" Rachel asked, turning her head to the blonde, and frowning.

"Things are weird between us," Quinn stated. "And don't say they're not, because you and I both know they are. It's my fault and I hate that things are like this."

"It's not your fault," Rachel said, shaking her head, but happy to hear that she wasn't alone in the way she was feeling right now.

"But it is," Quinn replied. "It's all because I kis—" Quinn sighed and rubbed her hand over her face and through her hair. "I'm sorry, okay, but I'm trying."

"I know you are," Rachel quietly said. "I was just so happy to see you here; I'm probably being paranoid, but I felt like you were avoiding me last week."

Quinn sighed. "You're not being paranoid; I was avoiding you."

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"I just—" Quinn shrugged.

"It's okay," Rachel said, putting her hand on Quinn's arm and squeezing it. "You don't have to explain it if you don't want to; I'm not going to push you. I know you need time to process recent developments—we _both_ need time to process. I do wish things could be normal between us again, but we'll make it through and I know that because we've made it through a lot worse before."

Quinn sighed and leaned her head on Rachel's shoulder. "Thank you."

They stayed like that for several minutes, not saying a word. Rachel was just enjoying having Quinn around and the other girl seemed to be deep in thought, so Rachel wasn't going to interrupt it. When the brunette glanced at her, Quinn had her eyes closed and Rachel couldn't help but reach over and tuck a strand of hair behind the blonde's ear. Quinn smiled at this and opened her hazel eyes, looking directly into Rachel's.

"I missed you," Rachel whispered. "I know you've been right here, but I feel like you've been a million miles away and it's weird considering we haven't been particularly close for long, but it was odd not having you present."

Rachel felt like she wasn't making very much sense and could feel herself blushing. Sometimes she felt like a complete idiot around Quinn; much more so than anyone else she previously had feelings for. Maybe it was because she would always see the blonde as the most popular girl in school—the untouchable cheerleader that she so desperately wanted to be friends with. Now that she was friends with her, it still seemed very surreal when she thought about it. Then again, a lot of things seemed surreal in her life—like traveling back in time—so being friends with Quinn wasn't even the top of the list. Although, sometimes she felt like it should be.

"That probably didn't make any sense," Rachel added when Quinn didn't respond.

Quinn smiled. "It made perfect sense."

"Well—good," Rachel said grinning.

"So—what do you think this week's Glee assignment will be?" Quinn asked.

Quinn asked that almost every Monday; Rachel usually knew what the assignment was going to be, but she played along anyway. Plus, it was fun coming up with ridiculous assignments and she liked listening to the blonde laugh over them.

"Hmm." Rachel pretended to think; she knew this week was when Mr. Schue was going to get their help to propose to Emma, but she couldn't say that. "I'm going to guess something about us accepting each other for who we are or something that will build team unity."

Quinn laughed. "I'm fairly certain if we're not a cohesive group by now, we're not going to be."

"I think he just doesn't have any other ideas, so he uses the same ones over and over and hopes we won't notice," Rachel replied. "I would be happy to give him some new ideas, but I don't think he will listen to me."

Quinn sighed. "Probably not."

"Regionals are less than six weeks away and we haven't even begun to discuss what our set list might be," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Do you ever think maybe we should get together as a group, without him, and do it on our own?" Quinn asked.

"I have thought of that in the past, but I didn't foresee anyone wanting to give up their free time to do so," Rachel replied.

The bell rang and Quinn lifted her head up from Rachel's shoulder; Rachel stood up and dusted her skirt off before offering her hand to Quinn.

"I think we should try it," Quinn said, taking Rachel hand and standing up. "I'll talk to some of the guys and see what they think."

Quinn shouldered her bag, but still hadn't let go of Rachel's hand, but the brunette didn't mind; she actually smiled at the gesture.

"Well, if you think people will be up for it, I think it's a great idea," Rachel replied.

The two walked down the bleachers hand in hand until Quinn dropped her hand when they reached the bottom of the steps. Rachel didn't let it bother her, though; it just felt nice to have Quinn acting like herself again.

* * *

><p>Puck had been eyeing her ever since he came into the cafeteria and sat down next to her. She wanted to know why he was looking at her like that, but she was honestly a little afraid to know. Knowing Puck, it couldn't be something good. Even though he was thirty years old, he often still acted like and had the mentality of a teenager. She didn't know if it was because he never fully grew up in the first place or if he was like her.<p>

Being thrust back into high school was a weird experience and brought out a lot of her old insecurities and habits. She thought she had moved past a lot of things, but being right back in the midst of everything made it difficult. Seeing the Cheerios uniforms all around brought back all her feelings of inadequacy. In her adult life, she was a Broadway star, but here she was still the same girl she always was. The jocks and cheerleaders still looked at her like she was a loser, so it was hard to not feel like one.

Rachel noticed Puck was still staring at her, so she looked in the opposite direction and stared at the wall. No one else from Glee had come in yet, so it was just the two of them and she had left her backpack in her locker, so she had no way of appearing busy.

"What's up?" Puck asked her and she had no choice but to acknowledge him.

"Nothing," she replied.

Puck was looking at her skeptically. "No, seriously—what's up?"

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

Puck sighed and ran his hand over his Mohawk. "Look, I know we're not exactly best friends or anything, but I know when something's up with you and something's definitely been up lately. I hadn't asked yet because I don't usually do that kind of thing, but I'm asking now."

Rachel thought about it as she looked around; would it be okay to tell Puck about Quinn kissing her? She knew he had feelings for Quinn, but maybe he could help her and looking back on their conversation in the choir room, she actually wondered if he knew more than he had previously said.

"I—" Rachel sighed.

"Come on," Puck said, verging on whining.

"I don't want you to get mad," Rachel mumbled.

Puck frowned. "Why would I get mad?"

"Or hurt," Rachel added.

"Why would I get hurt?" Puck asked.

Rachel sighed. "It's about Quinn."

"What about Quinn?" Puck asked.

"I—" Rachel hesitated again.

"Okay, can you just answer me so we can stop playing twenty questions?" Puck asked, nudging her lightly in the ribs.

Rachel looked around again to make sure no one was about to approach the table; when she didn't see anyone around, she sighed and turned to Puck.

"Quinn—kissed me," Rachel said, avoiding looking Puck in the eyes.

"She kissed you," he repeated.

"Yes," Rachel said with a nod.

"So—what exactly does that mean?" Puck asked.

"I-I don't know exactly," Rachel said, shrugging. "She hasn't exactly admitted to liking me or anything, but looking back on recent behavior, I suspect she does, even though I know how ridiculous that sounds considering our history. I honestly have no idea how all of this happened and I'm still very confused by it at the moment, which is probably why you think I've been behaving oddly or whatever it is that has been making you think something is up with me."

Rachel took a deep breath and when she chanced a glance at Puck's face, he was looking at her with a very neutral expression. He didn't look angry or hurt or even really surprised by her confession.

"Say something," Rachel commanded.

"What do you want me to say?" Puck asked, shrugging.

"Anything," Rachel replied. "Are you mad?"

Puck shook his head. "No."

Rachel frowned. "Hurt?"

Puck laughed. "I'm not exactly going to do a happy dance hearing the girl I like likes someone else, but no."

"Why don't you seem surprised?" Rachel asked.

"Hey," Sam said, bring his tray up to the table.

"Hello," Rachel greeted, turning away from Puck, slightly annoyed by the interruption.

"Where is everyone?" Sam asked, looking around.

"The guys are rehearsing," Puck answered. "Artie wants Schue to sing Moves Like Jagger to Pillsbury"

"Aren't you supposed to be doing that with them, Noah?" Rachel asked, turning back to look at him.

"I'm not going to skip lunch just so Schue can tell him it's a terrible song," Puck said, looking at her like she was crazy.

Rachel rolled her eyes and turned back to the blonde boy. "How are you, Sam."

"Awesome," Sam said, grinning widely. "I joined the swim team and it's actually a lot of fun."

"That's wonderful," Rachel said, smiling at him.

"Yeah," Sam wistfully said as he watched Mercedes approaching the table.

Rachel smiled. "Will you come with me, Noah?"

"Why?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

"We need to talk," Rachel said, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him up.

"Can't it wait til after lunch?" he asked, swallowing the mouthful.

"No," Rachel replied, dragging him across the cafeteria.

She finally let him go once it was clear that he would follow her; she needed to find a place to talk to him privately, but the auditorium was out because of Artie, the choir room was out because she knew Kurt and Blaine were rehearsing something in there, and the girl's bathroom was definitely out since she would never trust Puck in there. So, she went to the only place she could think of and lead him to the football field, where she sat on the bottommost row of bleachers.

"Okay, Noah, answer my question," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

Puck frowned and scratched his jaw. "What question?"

"Why do you not seem surprised that Quinn kissed me?" Rachel asked, huffing.

"Oh," Puck said, kicking at something with his toe. "I—might have already known."

"How!" Rachel screeched.

"Okay, can we take it down a few decibels?" Puck asked, flinching.

"How, Noah!" Rachel asked, voice still raised, but slightly lower than the first time.

"I—" He sighed and ran his hand over his face. "I knew from before, okay?"

"Before?" Rachel asked.

"Like—the first time around," Puck clarified.

"You—she liked me then, too?" Rachel shrieked.

"Okay, seriously only dogs can hear you now," Puck said, rubbing his ear.

Rachel cleared her throat. "Sorry. What exactly do you know?"

"I'm not telling you any more than what you know now," Puck replied. "She likes you; that's all I'm going to say."

Rachel huffed. "Why not?"

"Because obviously you two need to talk," Puck said, shrugging.

"But I've tried that and she won't tell me anything," Rachel said, frustrated. "Why won't you just tell me?"

"Listen, it's not really my place, okay?" Puck replied. "I probably shouldn't have even told you this much, but it's hard to lie to you, especially when you look all crazy determined."

"Fine," Rachel said, crossing her arms and scowling.

"Can I go in and eat the rest my food, now?" Puck asked.

"Yes," Rachel said, glaring at him.

Puck took off as fast as he could and Rachel almost wanted to laugh at the sight, but was still too frustrated to do so. Puck had known this whole time and failed to mention anything to her about it. She wanted to know everything he knew, but it didn't seem like she was going to get it out of him anytime soon. That didn't mean she wasn't going to keep trying, though; she just needed to catch him off guard.

And why did it always seem like everyone knew more than her?

* * *

><p>"<em>Tomorrow's date means springtime's just a day away<br>__Cupid, we don't need ya now, be on your way  
><em>_I thank the lord for love like ours that grows ever stronger  
><em>_And I always will be true  
><em>_I know you feel the same way too_

"_Oh, I love you more today than yesterday  
><em>_But not as much as tomorrow  
><em>_I love you more today than yesterday  
><em>_But only half as much as tomorrow_

"_Every day's a new day  
><em>_Every time I love ya  
><em>_Every way's a new way  
><em>_Every time I love ya  
><em>_Every day's a new day  
><em>_Every time I kiss ya  
><em>_Every day's a new day"_

Rachel heard clapping and looked to the right side of the auditorium to find Quinn there with a smile on her face. Rachel instantly smiled back and felt herself blushing slightly. She was used to standing ovations, but somehow Quinn clapping alone meant even more to her than an entire room full of people.

"That was amazing," Quinn finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

"Thank you," Rachel said, ducking her head.

"Definitely not your usual power ballad, but I think Ms. Pillsbury will appreciate the song," Quinn said, walking forward.

"I doubt Mr. Schue is going to go with any song I choose, so I figured I would have fun with it," Rachel said, shrugging.

"I-I thought you might be hungry," Quinn said, fidgeting with the bag in her hand.

"You brought me lunch?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Quinn said, walking forward the rest of the way. "I knew you were performing today, so you would spend all of your lunchtime rehearsing, even though you know you already have the song down, and I know when you rehearse, you usually get so into performing that you forget to actually eat."

Rachel shook her head slowly. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Quinn asked, frowning

"Know me so well," Rachel replied.

"Oh." Quinn shrugged and looked away. "I don't know—I just pay attention, I guess."

She was married to Finn for over ten years and even he didn't know her habits that well. She didn't know if it was because he wasn't that perceptive or if he just never cared to know her that well. He had always been more about what _he_ could get out of their relationship; she had loved him, so she accepted that that's who he was, but it was eventually what tore them apart. One too many times he forgot her birthday, their anniversary, or even simple things like to pick her up from the airport. But here Quinn was, bringing her lunch because she knew she would be rehearsing and forget to eat. It was simple and thoughtful and made Rachel want to jump off the stage and wrap the other girl in a hug.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want it," Quinn said, mistaking Rachel's silence for something bad.

"No, I—" Rachel shook her head and laughed lightly. "Sorry, I was just stuck in my head."

Rachel walked over to the steps and met Quinn at the bottom; the blonde pulled one of the containers out of the bag and handed it to Rachel. She gladly accepted it and led them over to the front row of seats and sat down. When they were both seated, Rachel opened the plastic contained and looked at Quinn in surprise.

"Lasagna?" Rachel said, raising her eyebrow.

"Vegan lasagna," Quinn corrected.

"Where did you get it," Rachel asked.

Quinn smiled. "I made it last night."

Rachel's jaw dropped. "You made it?"

"I didn't know any place with vegan food and I figured I would try to do something nice." Quinn shrugged. "Think of this as me saying 'I'm sorry for ignoring and avoiding you for the last two weeks'."

"Does this mean you won't do it again?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed lightly and handed Rachel a fork. "I'll try."

"Good," Rachel said, grabbing the utensil out of Quinn's hand.

Rachel dug in to the food and practically moaned as soon as it hit her tongue. Quinn may have said she wasn't able to bake, but she could definitely cook.

"Is it any good?" Quinn asked.

"Marry me," Rachel joked.

Quinn laughed loudly. "Can I assume that means it's good?"

"Don't tell my Dad, but this is far better than his lasagna," Rachel replied, smiling as she took another bite of food.

"Hey, guys!" Brittany's voice suddenly said from behind them, causing them both to jump.

Brittany bound down the aisle and Rachel couldn't help but laugh at the sight; the girl was almost always happy and she couldn't help but feel better anytime the blonde was around. Santana, however, was lagging behind the blonde, not looking nearly as happy.

"Hey, B," Quinn said, smiling at her friend. "What are you two doing in here?"

"Santana wanted to know where you were," Brittany answered.

Santana looked rather sheepish. "That's not true."

"She was worried when you didn't show up for lunch," Brittany added.

Rachel laughed at the look on Santana's face. "Worried about us?"

"No—" Santana said, crossing her arms. "I was just—I thought maybe you two were off fighting somewhere, but it looks like you two have finally kissed and made up."

Quinn's face instantly blushed and she looked away, while Rachel rolled her eyes and said, "We were never fighting, but if you must know, we are fine now, so you don't have to worry."

Santana scoffed. "I never said I was worried."

"She was worried," Brittany replied. "She was afraid you two went back to hating each other and that we couldn't all be friends."

"Britt!" Santana harshly whispered.

"What?" Brittany asked, frowning. "It's true; you said it yesterday." Quinn started laughing and when Santana turned her head to glare at the blonde, Brittany scowled slightly at her. "Stop looking at Quinn like that."

Santana huffed and looked away. "Fine."

"So, you two really are friends again?" Brittany asked, looking between Quinn and Rachel.

"We were never not friends," Rachel answered. "We simply had a minor bump in the road, but everything is fine now."

"Good," Brittany said, smiling. "I don't want you two to fight; it's like when San and I fight."

"We'll try to never fight again," Rachel said; she knew that would never happen, but she hoped to stop the other girl from worrying about it.

"Awesome," Brittany said, beaming at them.

She grabbed Santana's hand and started skipping up the aisle; Quinn and Rachel both laughed when Santana looked back and scowled at them.

"That's cute; Santana was worried about us," Quinn said, smirking.

"I have learned this year that she cares a lot more than she lets on," Rachel replied. "I used to think she didn't care about anyone, but now I know her sarcasm and general attitude are her covering up because she's really a big softie at the core. Although, don't tell her I said that because I have a feeling she will threaten to go all Lima Heights on me and I would rather avoid that situation if I could since I'm pretty sure she could still kick my butt if it came to it."

"She wouldn't touch you," Quinn commented.

"Maybe not, but I would rather not test that theory," Rachel said, shrugging.

"You mean a lot to her," Quinn stated. "She'll never say it, because she never says it to anyone that isn't Brittany, but she cares a lot about you. She may pretend that she doesn't, but you've helped her out more than I ever could and she will be forever grateful for that."

"I'm glad I got a second chance to know her better." Rachel smiled and glanced at Quinn. "To know all of you better."

While she had grown closer to the three over the course of her senior year—her first senior year—it was nothing compared to now. Before, she could never quite count them as friends, but now she could and it felt wonderful. Even in her adult years, whenever she saw Santana and Brittany, she still felt like she needed their approval in some small way. She always found it hard not to be insecure around the former Cheerios, but now she finally saw that they were just as flawed and human as she was.

"You think too much," Quinn said, watching her and smiling.

"Sorry," Rachel said, laughing lightly. "I seem to do that a lot these days."

"Come on," Quinn said, motioning to their forgotten food. "I'm sure you're dying to rehearse one more time before the bell rings, so let's eat while we can."

Rachel laughed loudly. "You know me too well."

* * *

><p>"Rachel, honey!"<p>

Rachel set her notebook down on the bed and threw her pencil on top of it. She then crawled off the bed and walked through the door and down the stairs. Halfway down, though, she was stopped in her tracks at the sight of Quinn standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Quinn!" she said, surprised since it was nearly bedtime and snowing profusely outside.

"Hey," the blonde replied, smiling shyly up at her.

Leroy smiled at his daughter and walked away, leaving the two of them alone. Quinn was avoiding looking at Rachel and the brunette was confused as to why she was even at her house.

"Do you want to come up to my room?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "Okay."

Rachel turned around, ran back up the stairs, and went back into her room; Quinn followed her into the room, but still remained quiet and Rachel simply watched her, waiting for her to say something. When it was clear that the blonde wasn't going to start speaking, Rachel cleared her throat, gaining the other girl's attention.

"Not that I don't enjoy your company, but is there a reason why you're here?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know," Quinn said, laughing lightly.

Rachel frowned. "Okay."

"I thought Mr. Schue should have gone with your song," Quinn abruptly said. "I know Sam's idea was more extravagant, but—I liked your performance a lot more."

"Well, thank you," Rachel said, uncertainly.

Quinn shook her head and sighed. "Look—I don't know what I'm doing, okay?"

"About what?" Rachel asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I like you," Quinn stated. "I'm not even exactly sure when it happened, but I like you—a lot. I'm not supposed to feel this way about a girl, but I do and it scares me more than I can explain. I didn't mean to kiss you, but it just sort of happened. I've actually wanted it to happen for a while, but I was too afraid to do anything because of how I've treated you."

"Quinn—"

"No, just—" Quinn sighed. "I need to get this out."

"Okay," Rachel replied, going quiet again.

"I don't know how you really feel about me," Quinn continued. "I know that you said you think you have feelings for me and that you're confused, but I don't know what any of this means. I treated you horribly for so long and I find it hard to believe that you would want to even be friends with me, so I find it even harder to believe that you could ever like me back. And I know I've done a lot of stupid things like ignore you and shut you out for no reason, but most of the time it was because I was jealous or hurt, but you had no way of knowing that and I couldn't tell you because then you would know how I felt about you. I hate every time I see you near Finn and when he kissed you at that party, I wanted to walk up and punch him in the face. I hate this—I hate being jealous and I hate feeling like I have no control."

Quinn walked over and sat down on Rachel's bed, putting her face in her hands. Rachel wanted to go over, sit beside her, and wrap her in a hug, but she didn't know if she should, so Rachel cleared her throat and asked, "Can I hug you."

Quinn laughed and mumbled, "I guess."

Rachel decided to kneel in front of the blonde and leaned up, wrapping her arms around the other girl's shoulders. Quinn leaned into the hug and put her arms around Rachel, burying her face in the brunette's neck. After a few moments, though, Quinn pulled back and quickly wiped a few tears from her cheeks.

"It's okay to not know what you're doing," Rachel said, looking intently at the blonde. "I don't really know what I'm doing right now, either. I usually have everything planned out, but my life has been sort of turned upside down since the school year started. Every time I try, nothing goes according to plan—and you're one of those things. I wish I could clear up my feelings for you, but I'm not quite sure myself. I know I like you too, but I'm just now figured this all out, so I don't know to what degree."

Rachel stood up and reached a hand out for Quinn to take; when the blonde did so, Rachel pulled her to her feet, so they were standing face to face.

"I—"

"Rachel," Hiram said, knocking on the door.

"Yes, Dad?" Rachel said, sighing.

Hiram opened the door and popped his head in. "Your father and I are heading to bed; I wanted to let Quinn know that she is welcome to spend the night here. It's getting pretty bad out and I really don't think you should be driving in this weather."

Quinn's eyes widened. "That's nice, but I should really be getting home."

"Nonsense," Hiram said, waving her off and Rachel and Quinn helplessly looked at one another. "It's not like you haven't stayed over before."

"O-Okay," Quinn agreed.

"Wonderful," Hiram said, smiling. "I'll see you girls in the morning."

When Quinn turned to Rachel, the brunette shrugged. "There is no arguing with him."

"I can sleep on the floor," Quinn said, shaking her head.

"You're my guest, so either I'm sleeping on the floor, or we both take the bed," Rachel replied. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable, though, so don't feel like you have to do it."

"I—this is your room and I don't want to kick you out of your own bed," Quinn said, looking very uncertain. "So, I guess we'll share."

"Okay," Rachel said, looking around the room. "Clothes are in the dresser; maybe you can find something a little better than what I gave you last time. I will be getting ready in the bathroom."

Rachel walked into the bathroom and closed the door, leaning against it and taking a deep breath. Sleeping next to Quinn when she only thought the blonde might have feelings for her was one thing; now, though, it was going to be awkward. She knew Quinn liked her and now she knew that she liked the blonde back. It wasn't that she didn't trust Quinn—she did completely—but just knowing that the other girl was that close was going to be weird for her.

She stood there for several minutes, but eventually snapped out of her panic long enough to get ready for bed; she took a quick shower to calm her, changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, and finally walking into the bedroom. Quinn was standing at the window, looking out when Rachel came into the room; the brunette couldn't help but laugh when she saw that Quinn was wearing the same clothes as last time.

"Couldn't find anything better?" Rachel asked.

"No," Quinn said and Rachel could hear the smile in her voice. "You are ridiculously tiny."

"Still snowing?" Rachel asked, pulling back the covers.

"Pouring," Quinn replied, looking back at her. "It's probably a good thing I didn't go home; I'm lucky I made it here without plowing into another car."

Rachel stilled for a moment at Quinn's words and she glanced at the blonde; she then shook her head, reminding herself that Quinn had no idea what was going to happen to her later.

Quinn walked over to the bed and the two of them got under the covers at the same time. Rachel reached over and turned her lamp off, leaving them in complete darkness. Quinn was shifting beside her and Rachel was completely still, lying on her back. Neither of them said anything, but after an hour, it was clear that they were both still awake.

"Rach," Quinn whispered.

"Yeah?" Rachel asked, turning her head toward the blonde.

"We're never going to get to sleep like this," Quinn said, laughing.

"I know," Rachel said, laughing as well.

"What are you thinking about?" Quinn asked.

Rachel sighed. "You."

"Do you do that a lot?" Quinn wondered.

"Yes," Rachel said, blushing.

Quinn's fingers reached out and brushed Rachel's hand. "What were you going to say before your father interrupted?"

"I was going to ask—oh god." Rachel covered her face with her hands, even though it was dark and there was no way for Quinn to see the look on her face.

"What?" Quinn asked, squeezing Rachel's hand.

"I was going to ask if I could kiss you," Rachel muttered into her hands.

"Oh," Quinn said, sounding surprised.

"I just—I wanted to make sure what I felt wasn't a fluke," Rachel said, taking her hands off her face. "So—I was going to ask if it would be okay to kiss you again. Sorry, that probably just made things way more awkward and what little chance either of us had of falling asleep is probably now gone."

Quinn didn't say anything for several seconds until Rachel finally heard her whisper, "You can."

"You're sure?" Rachel whispered back. "I don't want to make things worse for you."

Quinn laughed lightly. "I'm sure."

Rachel turned to her side and scooted closer to Quinn, so their faces were only inches apart. "You're positive."

When Quinn nodded, Rachel hesitantly leaned in; her lips lightly brushed Quinn's and Rachel pulled back, making sure Quinn really was okay with this. She didn't need to ask, though, because Quinn leaned in and kissed her with more force.

This kiss wasn't like their last kiss; it wasn't as hesitant or gentle and Rachel quickly found herself putting her hand on Quinn's waist, pulling her closer. Quinn put her hand on Rachel's cheek as the brunette gently ran the tip of her tongue along the girl's bottom lip. She seemed hesitant at first, but her mouth parted slightly and Rachel's tongue brushed the blonde's. Quinn let out a small moan and Rachel couldn't help but smile at the sound.

Rachel pulled back before either of them could get too carried away, rested her forehead against Quinn's, and whispered, "At least you didn't run away this time."

Quinn laughed lightly and gave Rachel a quick kiss on the lips. "I guess we can call this progress."

* * *

><p><strong>The song Rachel was singing was More Today Than Yesterday by Spiral Starecase.<strong>

**While I hope next week's chapter will be on time, it might be late. I was hoping I would be able to write some while on this trip, but by the time I get back to the hotel, I'm usually too tired to do anything. Hopefully I'll have enough time after I get home to do it, though.**

**Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated and keep me motivated.**


	17. Promises

**Nightlancer600: I must say, the tour was amazing and I highly recommend getting there if you ever can. My girlfriend and I even took a picture of us on the Knight Bus and had Butterbeer…basically I was in nerd heaven.**

**Sorry this chapter took so long; I got back Friday at midnight, had to drive an hour the next morning to pick up my niece, and then she stayed with us until last Tuesday. I spent the past week trying to write this, but it was difficult after not writing anything for three weeks.**

**Also, the word count for this chapter is completely off; it's just as long as the rest of the chapters, but it claims it's shorter than it actually is and I can't seem to do anything about.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17 – Promises<strong>

By the time Rachel awoke on Saturday morning, Quinn was gone. She wasn't really surprised by it, but when she tried calling to make sure the other girl was okay, she didn't answer. In fact, she tried contacting her all weekend, but once again, the blonde was ignoring her calls and texts. She knew they needed to both figure out their feelings and have a serious talk, but Quinn seemed determined to avoid talking to her. After their kiss Friday night, they had gone to sleep; she knew they should have talked then, but she had a million questions running through her mind and didn't know where to start, so she laid there for what felt like half the night and then eventually fell asleep.

It was clear to her now that she had feelings for Quinn, but she didn't really know what that meant. She acknowledged to herself that she was attracted to the other girl, but was she simply attracted to her or was it more than that? One of the things she had spent the weekend thinking about was if she could actually see herself with Quinn. She couldn't deny that she felt something when she kissed her; it was actually the first time she had felt anything since Finn. She didn't want to lead the other girl on in any way, though, which was the thing she was most worried about.

Her other problem was that she also didn't know where Quinn stood. She knew Quinn liked her, but she was also scared and had run away from her twice now, so even if Rachel did decide she wanted something more, she didn't know if the other girl would be ready for it. Rachel could completely understand Quinn being scared given her family and her background, so she was going to try to give her the time and space she needed to figure things out. She just wished the blonde would stop ignoring her; they were friends and she missed being able to talk to her when she wanted or needed to.

Rachel was sitting on the bleachers, nervously tapping her fingers on the metal. It was too early for Quinn to be there, but Rachel had been so anxious to see her that she had gotten to school much earlier than she needed to. After being ignored all weekend, Rachel didn't really expect the other girl to be here, but she hoped she was wrong and that Quinn would show up.

The brunette repeatedly looked at the time on her phone; it was thirteen minutes past the time Quinn usually came and Rachel sighed to herself. She knew the other girl wouldn't come, but it didn't make it hurt any less. She could only wonder how long Quinn was going to avoid her this time; hopefully it would only be a few days and she wouldn't skip school again.

"Hey."

Rachel jumped so badly that she dropped her phone and it clanged down several steps. When she dove for it, she could hear Quinn laughing and Rachel glared up at her.

"First you scare me and then you laugh at me; that's not very nice, you know," Rachel said, trying to look stern.

"Sorry," Quinn said, putting her hand over her mouth.

"You don't look very sorry," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"I can go if you would like," Quinn said, turning on her heel.

"No, no," Rachel said, lunging for her arm and making Quinn laugh again. "Laugh at me all you want."

Quinn finally stopped laughing, but looked at Rachel with a smile on her lips; Rachel was watching her intently, trying to figure out whether or not they were okay. First Quinn avoided her all weekend, but then she showed up like nothing had happened. It was really starting to confuse the brunette.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked as she watched Quinn sit down next to her.

"Yeah," Quinn replied.

Rachel frowned for a moment. "Are you sure?"

Quinn nodded but didn't say anything further. Rachel wanted to bring up the kiss and the fact that Quinn had ignored every call and text she had sent her, but she thought that might not be the best tactic. With anyone else, she would just ask them about it, but this was Quinn and she knew that wouldn't work with her. The blonde had always been closed off, so confronting her would just make her go on the defensive and shut her out. So, Rachel decided to take it as a good sign that she was actually here right now and leave it at that. The last time, she skipped school to avoid her, so at least she wasn't doing that.

"How was your weekend?" Rachel decided to ask.

"Okay," Quinn said, shrugging.

"Good," Rachel replied.

"How about you?" Quinn awkwardly asked.

"Fine," Rachel lied.

Rachel internally rolled her eyes at their behavior; she was thirty—things shouldn't be like this. She never thought she would be in this position again, but here she was, going through that awkward dance of liking someone and them liking you, but not knowing what to do about it. She thought being married to Finn was frustrating, but liking a teenage girl was even worse. Especially when that girl was Quinn Fabray.

The dates she had been on since her divorce had been straightforward, but this was confusing the hell out of her and she had no idea what to do. Guys were always fairly easy to predict their behavior, but Quinn was the complete opposite. Rachel couldn't figure her out, but that was probably part of the reason for her infatuation with the blonde. Even the first time she was in high school, there was always something about the other girl that intrigued her. She had always tried to befriend her even after the blonde repeatedly rejected her offers of friendship and she never really knew why she was so determined to become friends with her. Even now, she didn't know if it was because she had always been somewhat attracted to her or if it was something else, but she was starting to suspect that there had always been something there between them and she was just too blinded by Finn to ever see it.

She was trying to be an adult about everything, but it was hard when she was in the body of someone much younger. Maybe it was the hormones or the fact that she didn't have the brain of a thirty year old—just the memory—but the longer she stayed here, the more she felt like she was turning into her younger self. Luckily she had always been mature for her age or things would probably be even worse than they were right now.

Rachel jumped slightly when Quinn's hand waved in front of her face and then let out a nervous giggle. "Sorry, I guess I got lost there for a moment."

"I asked what you did this weekend," Quinn said, nudging her lightly.

"Oh!" Rachel said, wondering how she completely missed the fact that Quinn had said anything to her. "Saturday my Dad and I went to the movies and Sunday we decided to have family night."

"What did you do on family night?" Quinn asked.

"We played scrabble and watched a couple musicals," Rachel replied. "As with most of our family nights, there were a lot of accusations of cheating during the game, but naturally I won."

Quinn smiled. "Sounds fun."

Rachel left out the fact that she had been distracted the entire time because she couldn't stop thinking about the girl sitting next to her. Her fathers kept asking what was wrong because she was glancing at her phone every thirty seconds, worried that she had somehow not heard her phone and had missed a call or text from Quinn. Hiram had been convinced she was coming down with something; she thought about talking to them, but she didn't really know what to say, so she simply told them she was fine and left it at that. Despite the distraction, though, she still kicked their butts at Scrabble; she may have been focused on other things, but she was still competitive and nothing would stop her from trying to win.

When the bell rang, Rachel actually breathed a sigh of relief. She normally hated when her time with Quinn was over, but things were so awkward between her and Quinn right now and she was so afraid of saying the wrong thing that she was relieved for it to be over. At least now she would have a few hours before she would see her again and maybe she could think of something to say to her without their conversation feeling so forced.

* * *

><p>Rachel was staring down the hall at Quinn, who had an annoyed expression on her face. She didn't know what Santana was saying to the blonde, but whatever it was, Quinn didn't seem to be enjoying the conversation. Not that Rachel could blame her; conversations with Santana were less conversation and more about taking verbal jabs from the Cheerio. She thought about going over to the two, but she still didn't really know how to go about interacting with Quinn. Despite thinking about it for the last day, she still didn't know the best course of action and their conversations were still stilted. Rachel was trying, though, and Quinn wasn't ignoring her, so things could definitely be worse than they currently were.<p>

She was still watching the two when Quinn looked in her direction and they locked eyes; Quinn rolled her eyes, showing her annoyance, and then mouthed 'help me'. Rachel let out a small giggle and shut her locker before walking down the hall toward the two girls. Quinn smiled slightly and looked down when Rachel started walking over. Rachel couldn't help but notice how cute the action was and it brought a smile to her face. It still amazed her when Quinn would get that shy expression on her face; before, she always thought the blonde seemed so in charge and unflappable, but was noticing more and more that Quinn would blush or look down at the ground and she still found it unbelievable that she was the one bringing out Quinn's shyness.

"Drop the act and t—"

"Hello," Rachel said, interrupting whatever Santana was saying.

"Hey," Quinn said, smiling at her.

Santana rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Berry?"

"I just—I wanted to see what you two were up to," Rachel lied.

"Well, we _were_ having a conversation until you came over," Santana said, huffing.

Rachel was trying not to smile at the scowl on Santana's face; now that she and Santana were friends, she quite enjoyed annoying the Cheerio. One day, Quinn told her it was one of her favorite things to do when she was bored and Rachel decided to give it a try. Quinn told her the things that most annoyed the other girl and the proceeded to demonstrate each of them over the course of several weeks. Her goal was to get Santana to storm off, which was surprisingly easy; the Cheerio could be a bit of a drama queen when she wanted to be, much to everyone else's amusement. Brittany would always give Quinn a disapproving look, but once or twice, Rachel saw her holding back a smile.

"Oh, were you?" Rachel asked, frowning. "I'm sorry."

Santana rolled her eyes again. "As if you couldn't—"

"Hey, Rach,"

Santana glowered at Finn. "Why can't anyone let me finish a damn sentence today?"

"Sorry," Finn said, taking a step away from the angry girl. "I just wanted to ask Rachel if I could talk to her for a sec."

Rachel glanced at Quinn, who was glaring daggers at the boy. "Umm."

"Just for a second," Finn pleaded.

Rachel sighed. "Fine, but only for a moment; I wanted to talk to Quinn about something."

Finn started walking away and Rachel was left with no choice but to follow him. As she passed Quinn, though, she reached out and gave her arm a light squeeze, hoping to reassure her. She didn't even really know what she was trying to reassure her about since Quinn had to know that there was no way she was going to get back together with the boy.

When he finally stopped at the end of the hall, Rachel sighed again and asked, "What did you want to discuss?"

"I wanted to know if you'd go the movies or something this weekend," Finn said.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Finn—"

"No, listen," Finn interrupted. "You said we could be friends and that's what I want; it's been like four months since we broke up and we barely talk and I actually miss talking to you which is weird because it sort of annoyed me when you talked a lot before." Rachel crossed her arms and huffed but Finn ignored it. "I just want to hang out with you some—that's all."

"Finn—I don't know if that would be the best idea," Rachel replied.

"Why not?" Finn asked, frowning in apparent confusion. "When I asked you to the dance, you said you would to be friends with me but it was too soon but it's been months now, so can't we be friends?"

"I know I said that at the time, but things have changed, Finn," Rachel replied, looking at Quinn for a moment before turning back to look at Finn. "I don't know if it would be the best thing right now." Rachel glanced at Quinn again. "I would greatly appreciate it if we could get along, but I don't think a friendship between us would work at the moment."

Rachel didn't have much desire to be friends with Finn; yes she would like it if things could be civil between them, but she didn't find it necessary to have him in her life. Things with Quinn were just starting to develop and she knew the blonde wouldn't like her being friends with her ex-boyfriend. Not that she would ever let Quinn tell her what to do or dictate her life in any way, but this about Rachel. She already had enough things going on in her life and she didn't want to complicate things even more than they already were. Plus, she didn't quite believe that this wasn't another poor attempt at getting back together with her.

"But what changed?" Finn asked.

"There are a lot going on and being friends with you could potentially complicate things that are already complicated enough," Rachel answered

"What?" Finn asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm going to have to decline," Rachel replied.

"Come on, Rach," Finn said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Why won't you give me a chance? Everything could be fine and not complicated. It's just a movie."

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, gently removing his hand from her shoulder.

Rachel turned to walk away and she could hear Finn huff behind her, but she ignored it. She was walking toward Santana and frowned when she noticed Quinn was no longer with her.

"Where did Quinn go?" Rachel asked.

"She took off," Santana said, shrugging.

"When? Where?" Rachel asked.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Do I look like I know everything?"

"Santana," Rachel said, scowling at her.

"Fine, Jesus," Santana replied. "She just left a few seconds ago; she was watching you and Finnept and I was trying to talk to her, but she wasn't listening and then she stormed off without saying a word."

"You don't know where she went?" Rachel asked.

"What, do you think I have a tracking device planted in her ass?" Santana asked. "I told you she left without saying anything, so how would I know where she is?"

"Okay," Rachel said, sighing.

"What's going on with her?" Santana asked, cocking her eyebrow at Rachel. "Why would she care if you're talking to the doughboy?"

Rachel shrugged, ignored Santana's question, and walked away; the choir room was closest, so she was going to check there first. Hopefully this wasn't one of those times Quinn didn't want to be found.

You could have said 'thank you for telling me', you know!" Santana called after her.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Berry, have you seen Quinn?" Santana asked.<p>

Rachel scowled, still staring into her locker as she answered, "She's around."

"No shit," Santana replied. "Will you find her and tell her you and the giant aren't going to start your disgusting PDA back up so she can get her panties untwisted. She's moping around and it's really starting to annoy me; she even snapped at Britt and I had to threaten to ends her if she ever pulled that crap again."

"What makes you think it has anything to do with Finn?" Rachel asked, causing Santana to roll her eyes and pierce her with a glare.

"Do I look stupid?" Santana asked. "Like I didn't figure out months ago what was going on with you two."

Rachel's eyes shot to Santana's. "What?"

"You and Quinn totally want each other, but you were too stupid to realize it and she was too stupid to admit it, so the rest of us had to watch your pathetic little mating ritual," Santana said, shrugging. "Brittany actually had to stop me from locking you two in the janitor's closet; I was hoping if you two were locked in there, you would both finally get your heads out of your asses and figure it out for yourselves."

Rachel was speechless and her mouth flopped open and closed while Santana looked at her, smirking triumphantly.

"What—do you think people didn't notice?" Santana asked. "Quinn was so obvious with her little crush on you. I always thought you were perceptive and would figure it out sooner or later—I just thought it was going to be a lot sooner than it was. Brittany and I actually had a bet going with who would make the first move, so which one of you was it? Brittany thinks it was Quinn, but I don't think she had the balls to do it."

"I—" Rachel frowned and huffed.

"Come on—was it you?" Santana asked. "Please tell me it was you."

"No," Rachel replied.

"Damn." Santana sighed. "I guess I owe Britt dinner. It happened at New Years, though, right?"

"What makes you think that?" Rachel asked.

"Again—I'm not stupid," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "Quinn ran out of that house faster than I've ever seen her run before and you two have been all weird and even more pathetic since then. It's obvious that something happened that night; I just haven't figured out what that something is yet, but don't worry, I will soon enough."

Rachel frowned to herself. Had they really been that obvious? How could she have been obvious when she hadn't even figured anything out herself, though? First Kurt and Blaine knew and then Puck knew and now Santana and Brittany. The conversation she had with Brittany a long time ago suddenly made a lot more sense. At the time, Rachel had no idea why Brittany was saying that Quinn was afraid and didn't know what to do. She had just chalked it up to Brittany being Brittany, but it turns out she had greatly underestimated the blonde; she had a feeling that everyone but Santana usually did.

"So, you've known this whole time?" Rachel asked.

"Not the whole time," Santana said, shrugging her shoulder. "I think I figured it out around the time you did that incredibly gay mash-up and then Q sang that song for me, but was eye-sexing you the whole time. I always thought Q was a little repressed in that department, but I seriously thought she would have better taste."

Rachel pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Santana. "Thank you; I'm so glad we had this little chat."

"Okay, now that that's out of the way—what's going on with you two?" Santana asked.

"I thought you knew everything that was going on between us," Rachel curtly replied.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Don't be a smartass; I'm trying to do the friend thing here, but naturally I had to give you a hard time first. That's out of the way now, though, so tell me."

"Come on," Rachel said as she shut her locker.

She led them into the bathroom and Santana jumped onto one of the sinks and looked at her expectantly. Rachel leaned against the door and sighed.

"I'm actually not entirely sure what's going on," Rachel replied.

"How can you not know?" Santana asked, scoffing.

"This is all new for me, okay?" Rachel said, huffing. "Quinn kissed me at the New Year's party. I had just figured out a few weeks before that she even liked me. I found it hard to believe, though, but then she kissed me and it left little doubt about it."

"And then she skipped school half the week to avoid you," Santana added.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "We talked—well, I talked—and things were a little better, but she's so frustrating. One moment she's here and then she's gone and some of the time I have no idea why. Like right now; if what you think is correct, why would she ever think that I would ever want to get together with Finn again? I thought I had made it pretty clear to everyone that I am no longer interested in rekindling anything with him."

"What exactly does Quinn know?" Santana asked.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked back.

Santana shook her head. "What have you told her? Like—how do you feel about her?"

"I told her that I'm confused and that I think I have feelings for her and th—"

"You told her that you _think_ you have feelings for her?" Santana asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied, waiting for Santana's tirade.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Well that explains it."

"It's more complicated than that," Rachel said, huffing. "It's not as if I've been running around kissing girls my whole life; this is new to me. I can acknowledge now that I'm attracted to Quinn, but I don't want to jump into this and completely ruin our friendship. Right now, I'm trying not to hurt Quinn, so I'm trying to take things slowly, since, as you know, I usually jump into relationships quickly and get a little too intense about them."

"It was disgusting when you started dating Finn," Santana agreed, nodding.

"Quinn knows I'm confused and still trying to process everything," Rachel said, ignoring Santana's statement. "And if you had let me finish, I was going to tell you that the last time we really talked about it, I told her I _know_ I have feelings for her, but I'm not sure to what degree."

"So, you told her you like her but you don't know if you like her enough?" Santana asked. "Way to go, Berry."

Rachel stomped her foot. "That is not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" Santana asked.

"I mean that—" Rachel groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. "I just want to be certain about everything before anything happens; I'm trying to figure this all out, but it's not easy. Hurting Quinn is the last thing I want to do, so I'm trying to be cautious. I know I'm attracted to her, but she's the first woman I've been attracted to."

"Does she know that?" Santana asked.

"I—yeah," Rachel said, uncertainly.

"Listen—Quinn acts like nothing gets to her, but she's just as insecure as everyone else," Santana stated. "Right now she's afraid and that's why she keeps running and doing this brooding crap. I'm guessing that when she saw you and Finn talking, she got scared yet again; rationally she might know that you two are not going to start dating again, but most people aren't very rational when their hearts are involved. You need to reassure her because she's probably thinking the worst right now."

"Don't you think I've tried," Rachel replied. "She's avoiding me—again."

"Try harder," Santana said, crossing her arms.

Rachel narrowed her eyes at the brunette. "Do you always have to end these little heart-to-hearts by being sarcastic or bossy?"

"Yes," Santana replied.

"Does it make you feel better about them if you get to be snarky?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Santana answered.

Rachel nodded. "Okay then." She turned to walk away but quickly turned back around. "Wait a minute—a few days ago you were asking about why Quinn was acting the way she was. Why did you ask if you knew?"

Santana shrugged. "Maybe I wanted to see if you would tell me the truth."

"Oh," Rachel said, watching Santana jump off the sink and walk toward the door. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Yeah, yeah," Santana replied as she opened the door.

* * *

><p>"Did you skip school yesterday just to avoid me?" Rachel asked, stepping up to Quinn's locker, and putting her hands on her hips. "Because if you did, it's very irresponsible of you, and I thought you valued your education more than that. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though, since you did it once before."<p>

Quinn chuckled and then covered her mouth when it turned into a cough. "Before you show me a PowerPoint of all these ways in which skipping school is bad, I should let you know that I missed school yesterday because I have a cold, not because I was avoiding you."

"Oh," Rachel said, frowning.

"You look like you were hoping that was the reason," Quinn said, grinning.

"No—" Rachel replied, not even really convincing herself. "Fine, it's a little flattering having that much effect on someone else." Rachel huffed and avoided looking at Quinn, who was laughing. "Please stop laughing at me."

"I'm not laughing at you," Quinn replied.

"I believe you are," Rachel said, frowning.

"You're just so—" Quinn shook her head.

"Irritating? Narcissistic? What—believe me, I've heard them all before," Rachel replied.

"I was going to say you're just so cute sometimes," Quinn said, lowering her voice.

Rachel felt herself blushing; she was so used to being called names for her behavior and 'cute' usually wasn't one of those names. Finn had always told her how narcissistic she was— he never used that word since words that large didn't tend to be in his vocabulary—and would always say she thought the world revolved around her. It was a complete embellishment, though; she _was_ prone to thinking people were talking about her, but it was usually because it was true. The world of Broadway turned out to be a lot like high school; it was full of cliques and she didn't always get along with the 'popular kids' as she called them and it often led to gossip about her.

"I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions," Rachel said, smiling embarrassedly at Quinn.

"It's fine," Quinn said, smiling. "I _have_ been avoiding you."

"I couldn't tell," Rachel joked. "Why were you avoiding me, though? I thought we were okay; what happened?"

Quinn nodded down the hall and Rachel took it to mean she wanted to talk in private, so the two walked toward the auditorium; it was empty as usual, so Quinn took a seat in the back row and Rachel joined her.

"I hate seeing you and Finn together," Quinn finally said, breaking the silence. "I know you've said that it's over and you're not going to get back together with him, but—I worry about it, okay? I hate seeing you with him because I'm afraid he's somehow going to convince you to give him another shot and I don't think I could deal with that happening again. And don't look at me like I'm crazy because it's happened before; you two break up, but then he apologizes for whatever boneheaded thing he did, you forgive him, and you start dating again."

"He asked if we could be friends," Rachel said, looking intently at Quinn. "He wanted to go to the movies this weekend, but I told him no. I don't know if he's genuine or not about being friends and frankly I don't really care, but I'm not going to risk it. Maybe before I would have given him a chance, but right now—I knew you would be worried, so I said no. I didn't want to risk hurting you because you mean a lot more to me than he does."

"Rachel—"

"Give me a second to get everything out," Rachel said, putting her hand on Quinn's arm. "Every time I try to figure out what to say to you, it feels wrong. I'm usually a fairly eloquent speaker, but you—fluster me." Rachel took a deep breath and nervously smoothed out her skirt. "I like you; I know I've said this before, but I feel like I need to say it again. This is obviously new to me, but I am attracted to you and I want to see where it goes. I don't know where you stand right now, but this is where I am and I thought you should know."

Quinn smiled sadly. "I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"All my life I've been told that this is wrong and it's a sin and people like that are going to hell," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I know my father was the one that kicked me out when I got pregnant, but I'm afraid my mother will do the same. I'm terrified of being homeless again and being on my own. I know I complain about her, but she's all I have now. My father hasn't spoken to me since he kicked me out and I haven't really talked to my sister in years, either. I don't want to see that look of disappointment in her eyes; I don't want to be abandoned again."

Rachel nodded; she understood why Quinn was afraid. Given the way she grew up and her parents' reaction upon finding out she was pregnant, her fear was completely justified. Rachel grew up with two gay fathers and even she was scared, so she couldn't really imagine what it must be like for someone like Quinn—someone who had grown up hearing how wrong it was.

"It's okay, Quinn," Rachel said, softly. "I'm not going anywhere, so take all the time you need. You might find it hard to believe, but I can actually be quite patient."

Quinn laughed lightly. "So you're not going to give up on me?"

"No, I'm not," Rachel replied. "Will you promise me one thing, though?"

"What's that?" Quinn asked.

"Stop avoiding me," Rachel replied. "I know you're scared—I'm scared too—but, no matter what happens, I don't want you to avoid me. I know you run when you're scared, but please promise me you'll stop. You can ask me to give you space if you need it and I promise to give it to you as long as you promise no more running."

"Okay—I promise," Quinn replied.

"Thank you," Rachel said, leaning in to hug the blonde. "Santana knows, by the way."

"What?" Quinn said, pulling back before Rachel could get her arms around her. "How?"

"Because she's Santana?" Rachel replied, not really wanting to tell Quinn that apparently her crush was obvious. "She says she figured it out a while ago—as did Brittany."

"Oh god," Quinn said, groaning. "Santana is never going to let me hear the end of it."

"Maybe it's a good thing that she knows," Rachel said, shrugging. "You can talk to her about it."

"Talk?" Quinn asked. "To Santana?"

"If you ignore the attitude, she's actually getting quite good at listening and giving advice," Rachel said, nodding. "I think I'm rubbing off on her."

Quinn nodded and then paused for a moment and started laughing. "God help us all."

* * *

><p><strong>Apologies if this chapter sucked in any way; I felt like I completely off when I was writing it, but it could completely be my imagination.<strong>

**Anyway, reviews are always appreciated, so please leave one if you can.**


	18. Happy Now

**Guest…you'll just have to figure out which one I'm talking to: The date might be closer than you think.**

**LaurenKnight13: I'll never understand her falling for the "I just want to be friends" thing; it gets done a lot and always frustrates me and I'm usually yelling at my monitor…which tells everyone how lame I am. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18 – Happy Now<strong>

"Okay, settle down guys." Mr. Schuester was standing in front of the room, motioning for everyone to take their seats. "Normally I would give you a theme for this week's assignment, but I'm going to do something different this week. I want you guys to take this week to come up with ideas for Regionals and I'm giving you free reign. They are only three weeks away, so we need to start working on our set list right now."

"Which we should have been working on for weeks," Rachel mumbled.

"On Friday I want all of you to present your ideas to the class," he continued. "You can do any type of song you like, but whatever you do, I want at least one idea from each of you."

"I don't have to wait til Friday," Artie said, raising his hand. "We won Sectionals with Jackson songs and it will win us Regionals. I think we should do MJ songs; everyone loves Michael and we'll kill the competition with it."

"I'm down for that," Sam said, smiling widely.

"I have to agree," Kurt added.

"While I love Michael Jackson as much as the next girl, I believe it would be redundant to do more songs from the Jackson catalog," Rachel spoke up. "As performers, we need to constantly push ourselves to be better; we don't want to get into a rut or we'll never win Nationals."

"But what a rut it would be," Artie said. "Come on, Rachel. We were awesome at Sectionals and part of that was because of the songs we picked. Michael Jackson is a crowd pleaser; the judges will eat it up and no one else will stand a chance. I know you want to win just as much as the rest of us and this will be our best chance at beating the Warblers."

Rachel sighed; of course she wanted to beat the Warblers, but she knew the price they would pay if they tried doing Michael Jackson songs at Regionals. She knew from several of Kurt's rants that Blaine and Sebastian were in contact, much to Kurt's chagrin. Rachel wanted to tell Kurt to keep Blaine away from him, but she couldn't without him asking questions that she had no way of answering. She knew the Warbler was bad news and would always be a sore spot for the couple, but she couldn't do anything to stop it. On several occasions she tried suggesting he gently steer Blaine away from the other guy, but her attempts all failed. Kurt was too afraid of being the jealous boyfriend and driving Blaine away, and Rachel couldn't tell him that he had reason to be jealous.

"Maybe I can kick the Warbler's ass before he pulls his little stunt," Puck leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"Noah!" Rachel said, gasping. "I do not want you fighting anyone; you have a future to think about."

Puck shifted slightly and Rachel knew he was uncomfortable; it was the way he acted every time she mentioned his future. He had a second chance and she didn't understand why he was so reluctant to take it.

"Besides, we didn't need Michael last time and we don't this time," Rachel continued to whisper. "Winning Regionals isn't going to be an issue for us; it's Nationals that's going to be the problem again." Rachel eyed Sugar and frowned. "I'm not going to let you get into trouble; you could be kicked out of school or worse."

Puck sighed. "It was just a thought."

"I know, but will you please back me up here?" Rachel asked.

"Sure thing," Puck replied.

"I just don't think Michael Jackson is the way to go," Rachel said, trying to talk over everyone else.

Mercedes scoffed at her. "Girl, how are we friends?"

"I must second that," Kurt said, looking curiously at her.

"I think maybe Rachel's right," Puck said, shooting Kurt and Mercedes an intimating look. "My Jew usually knows what she's talking about and if she doesn't think we should do it then maybe we shouldn't."

"What's going on between you two?" Finn asked, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

"Nothing, dude," Puck said, shrugging.

"Why are you agreeing with her about everything?" Finn asked. "You didn't used to give a crap about anything and now you stick up for Rachel all the time, so I'm asking you, what's going on between you and her?"

"Finn, if anything were going on between me and Noah, it wouldn't be any of your business," Rachel said, crossing her arms. "That being said, nothing is going on."

"I'm with Rachel," Quinn blurted out and Rachel saw Santana smirking. "I mean, I don't think we should do Jackson songs again. Yes, we won Sectionals with them, but Rachel's right. We need to push ourselves if we want to improve and we're not going to do that if we do the same thing all the time."

"Guys!" Mr. Schue said, finally interrupted them. "This isn't the time to discuss this; now, I want you to get started on your assignment and remember, you're presenting your ideas on Friday. We will have plenty of time to debate it then."

"So, why did I just argue for no Michael Jackson songs?" Quinn asked, walking up to Rachel.

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked, turning to face the blonde.

"I mean you were lying about your reason," Quinn replied.

Rachel frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Because you fidget with your hands when you lie," Quinn said, cocking her eyebrow at her. "If you're wearing a ring, you play with it, or, like today, you were playing with your necklace the whole time. When you lie, your hands can't stay still."

"I—"

"Just tell me there was a good reason for it," Quinn interrupted.

"There is," Rachel replied, nodding.

"Okay, I guess that's all I really need to know" Quinn said, walking away, but turning back around. "For now, anyway."

Rachel sighed and turned back to Puck. "Thank you, Noah."

Puck shrugged. "You're the smart one with the plan."

"It usually ends up less of a plan and more playing it by ear," Rachel said, giving him a small smile.

Puck shrugged. "Yeah, but it's more than I got."

* * *

><p>"Rachel," Quinn said, coming up to her.<p>

"Hello, Quinn," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde.

"Can we talk?" Quinn asked, looking down the hall.

"Okay," Rachel said uncertainly.

Quinn grabbed her hand and pulled her into the closest bathroom; Rachel was a little anxious to find out what Quinn wanted to talk about, but the blonde was smiling, so she hoped it was nothing bad.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked as soon as the door was closed.

"Here," Quinn said, putting an envelope into Rachel's hands.

Rachel saw the outside and smiled, knowing what it must be, but she asked, "What's this?"

"I got my answer from Yale," Quinn replied. "That's my ticket out of Lima. I got in, early admissions."

"That's amazing, Quinn," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around Quinn's neck, and pulling her close. "I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, it turns out they really loved my essay about overcoming adversity, while maintaining a straight A average, during a teen pregnancy," Quinn said, laughing lightly, pulling away from Rachel's embrace. "Who knew I would ever get everything I never hoped to dream."

"I always knew you were better than you thought," Rachel whispered. "You always said how _I_ was going to get out of Lima, but I always knew you would get out too. You talked about how you were going to live here all your life, get married, and have kids, but I always knew you were so much more than that."

"I know," Quinn softly replied, staring into Rachel's eyes, and taking one of her hands. "You believed in me when I never believed in myself; I've never understood why, but it's because of you that I applied. I wanted to believe you—I wanted to be the person you thought I could be."

"Well, at least you were intelligent enough to listen to me," Rachel joked.

"It is a good thing; maybe now I won't turn into my mother," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel smiled. "What did your mom say when you told her."

"I haven't told her yet," Quinn said, sighing. "I wanted you to be the first to know."

"Are you going to tell her tonight?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded. "She'll be surprised—she doesn't know I applied. Actually, no one does; you're the only one I told."

"Why?" Rachel wondered.

"I was afraid I wouldn't get it," Quinn admitted. "I didn't want everyone to be disappointed in me."

"I would never have been disappointed in you, Quinn," Rachel said, squeezing her hand.

"Which is why you were the only one that knew," Quinn said, squeezing back. "I wanted to call you yesterday to tell you, but I wanted to be able to show you the letter."

Rachel smiled and pulled Quinn into another hug. "I really am proud of you."

* * *

><p>"Quinn has informed me that she has an announcement," Mr. Schue said, standing in front of his students. "The floor is all yours."<p>

Quinn smiled and walked to the front of the room; everyone was looking at her curiously, but Puck and Rachel looked at each other. Rachel smiled at him and Puck smirking knowingly.

"I got into Yale," Quinn said and everyone was completely silent for a moment before the room exploded and everyone was talking at once.

"Are you serious?" Mercedes asked, jumping out of her chair.

"I always knew you were smart even when you did stupid things," Brittany said, tackling Quinn into a hug.

Quinn laughed. "Thanks, B."

"I guess you're going to get out of this town after all," Santana said, briefly hugging Quinn. "Just don't screw it up by getting pregnant again."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I think I learned my lesson the first time."

"Our girl did it," Puck said, moving to sit next to Rachel.

Rachel sighed, smiling. "She did; now, we just have to make sure she gets there this time."

"How did you get her to apply?" Puck asked.

"I didn't," Rachel said, shaking her head. "She told me on my birthday that she had sent in the application." Rachel looked back to Quinn and smiled. "I like seeing her this way; I think this is the happiest I've ever seen her."

Quinn was laughing with Kurt and Brittany, and for the first time ever, Rachel thought the blonde looked genuinely happy. Even at her happiest times, she had never seen the other girl like this.

"Well, you stopped a lot of bad stuff from happening to her this year," Puck said, looking at the brunette.

"Do you think she'll ever be able to see Beth?" Rachel asked, not looking away from Quinn.

"I don't know," Puck said, shrugging. "I hope so; I would really like to see my daughter again."

Rachel sighed and looked at Puck. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Puck asked, frowning

"I'm the reason you never met her in this life," Rachel replied. "I kept Shelby away to protect Quinn and the Glee club, but that meant you never seeing your daughter."

"I will one day," Puck stated. "Maybe this time I won't screw it up. I was an idiot; I messed up with Shelby and then I never got to see Beth again. And Quinn—who knows. Maybe if she knows she has people that love her, she won't go all baby stealing crazy again." Puck sighed. "That's one of my biggest regrets, you know? I knew she was going off the deep end, but I did nothing to help; I told her she was selfish and pushed her aside."

"You were only eighteen, you're allowed to be immature then," Rachel said, nudging him. "You're here now and you're helping; that's all that matters. Our past hasn't actually happened, so technically you did none of that stuff."

"Sometimes I wish I could forget," Puck said, clenching his jaw. "But if I didn't remember, I would probably do the same shit again."

"Maybe instead of wishing you could forget, you should work on trying to forgive," Rachel said, patting his knee. "Now, go give Quinn a hug and tell her how proud you are of her."

Puck smiled as he stood up from his seat; he gave Quinn a hug, twirling her around. When he set her down, she pulled away and smiled at Rachel, motioning for her to join everyone else.

* * *

><p>"Rachel!" Kurt was running down the hall and Rachel smiled at him when she saw the piece of paper in his hand. "Rachel, I did it! My dad just brought my NYADA letter; I'm a finalist!"<p>

"I'm so happy for you, Kurt!" Rachel said, hugging him tightly.

"Have you gotten yours yet?" he asked.

Rachel shook her head. "I'm sure I'll get it any day; I'm Rachel Berry, how are they going to say no to me?"

Kurt laughed. "Yes, you're Rachel Berry, and I'm surprised you're not freaking out more. I thought I was going to have a coronary waiting on this letter."

"I'm not worried," Rachel said, shrugging. "I've learned this year that you have to let some things go and that you can't always control everything, no matter how hard you try. Whether or not I get my letter is beyond my control at this point; I've done all I can do."

"I have to go tell Mercedes and Tina," Kurt said, jumping a bit in his excitement. "I just had to tell you first. This is it; this is my future—our future. Let me know the moment you get your letter; I don't care if it comes in the middle of the night, by owl, make sure you call me."

"And interrupt your beauty sleep?" Rachel teased.

"Yes, I need to know my best friend is going to be there with me," Kurt said, hugging her again. "I know we still have auditions, but we're both amazing and there is no way the people from the school will say no to either of us."

Rachel smiled at Kurt's confidence. "You are exactly right. Now, go tell everyone else the spectacular news."

She watched as the boy nearly skipped down the hall; when he went past Santana, he threw up his arms and yelled, "I got it."

Kurt kept going, leaving a scowling Santana headed Rachel's way. "What the hell was Prancy yelling about?"

"He got his NYADA letter," Rachel replied. "He's a finalist."

"But he's not even in, so what's he so excited about?" Santana asked.

"Most people who apply don't even get this far," Rachel explained.

"What happens now?" Santana asked.

"Now someone from NYADA comes and watches him perform and they decide whether or not they want to accept him into the program," Rachel replied.

"So why don't you have your letter yet?" Santana asked. "I mean, I'll deny it if you ever repeat it, but you're the best singer we have. Shouldn't you get in before him?"

"My letter could have simply been delayed somewhere along the way," Rachel said, shrugging.

Santana gave her a strange look. "Okay, I've thought it before, but now I really think it; what the hell have you done with Rachel Berry?"

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked.

"There's no way you are this calm," Santana said, taking a step back, eyeing her. "This is what you've dreamed about your whole life. You've ranted about Broadway for as long as I've known you; I've even threatened to punch you in the face if you didn't stop talking about it and you _still_ didn't stop. All year I've thought something was different with you, but now I know something has changed."

"Santana, I can assure you that I'm who I've always been," Rachel replied.

Santana shook her head as she took a step toward Rachel. "I don't believe you."

"Well, I don't know what else to say to you," Rachel replied, not backing down.

"You could say the truth," Santana said, glaring at her.

"Where is this coming from?" Rachel asked.

"I told you, I've been thinking it for a while, but today—you are one of the most uptight, neurotic people I have ever known and you're not at all concerned about getting a letter that's going to determine your life?" Santana replied. "I don't think so."

"I am concerned, Santana; I just know there is nothing I can do to change anything right now," Rachel tried explaining. "Maybe this summer I learned to relax and that's why you think I'm so different."

Santana shook her head. "No, it's not just that."

Rachel opened her mouth, but quickly closed it; it seemed to be getting harder and harder to lie to the people in her life. Santana was her friend now—a genuine friend, not the way their tentative friendship was before—and now she had to lie to her face. How would she ever be able to explain the truth to anyone, though? If she told Santana the truth, the other girl would still think she was lying. Plus, it was hard to explain something when she didn't even have all the answers herself; she still didn't know why or how she was in the past or if it was a temporary or permanent situation.

This was the first time anyone had confronted her about it, though; Kurt and Mercedes had both given her looks before and she knew what they meant. They were suspicious of why she was doing something or how she seemed to know things before they happened. She had only slipped up a few times, but apparently it was enough to give her friends some inkling that something was going on with her. She had tried to act like her teenage self as much as possible, but it was obviously not fooling Santana anymore—or from the sound of it, it had never fooled her completely.

"Hey, San," Brittany said, coming up, and kissing her girlfriend on the cheek. "Hey, Rach."

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, smiling at the blonde.

"Come on," Brittany said, pulling her girlfriend away by the hand. "Coach wants to talk to us."

"This conversation isn't over, Berry," Santana said.

"I never assumed it would be," Rachel said, smiling sadly.

* * *

><p>Rachel walked down the hall, looking for Kurt; class had just let out, so the halls were full, making it difficult for Rachel to get through. She saw him several yards away, though, and yelled his name. He immediately stopped and walked toward her, but stopped again the moment he saw the envelope in her hands.<p>

"You got it!" he asked.

Rachel smiled and nodded. "I got it; Dad has been checking the mail during his lunch break and he brought it to me during last period."

"Sweetie!" Kurt picked Rachel up, hugging her tightly. "I knew we would do it!"

"You didn't have any doubt?" Rachel asked, laughing.

"Okay, maybe a little, but it doesn't matter now because we're NYADA finalists!" Kurt excitedly said.

"I know, it's amazing, but we can celebrate later, okay?" Rachel replied. "I promised I would tell you first, but now I need to find Quinn and tell her the news."

Kurt smiled and hugged Rachel one last time. "I'm sure she'll be as proud as I am."

"Thank you, Kurt," Rachel said, beaming at him.

Rachel headed toward the cafeteria, but along the way she heard someone playing the piano in the choir room and knew it was most likely Quinn. The blonde would sometimes skip lunch to play; sometimes Rachel would sit in the room with her, but other times she would stand outside the door and listen to her play without her friend's knowledge.

When she walked into the room, Quinn didn't turn around or stop playing, but still said, "Hey, Rach."

"You always know it's me," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn laughed lightly. "Of course—you _are_ the only one who comes in here after all."

Rachel dramatically sighed. "And here I thought you had some sort of Rachel Berry sensor."

Quinn laughed louder this time. "Maybe I do—you never know."

"It would be highly flattering," Rachel replied before suddenly frowning. "Although, I suppose most people would use it as a way to avoid me."

Quinn smiled softly as she played a few more notes before finally turning around. "I guess it's a good thing I'm not most people."

Rachel looked at her hands and fiddled with her letter for a moment; she took a deep breath and a smile slowly spread across her face as she handed the piece of paper to Quinn.

"What's this?" Quinn asked, unfolding the letter.

Rachel didn't answer, but stood silent as Quinn's eyes wandered over the piece of paper. After a few seconds, Quinn lowered it and looked up at Rachel with a huge smile on her face. She didn't say anything for a moment, but she stood up from the piano bench and wrapped her arms around Rachel. The brunette didn't say anything either; she just closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Quinn hugging her. It was times like this when she wondered how she never noticed before that they seemed to fit together so perfectly. Finn was always uncomfortably tall to hug, but Quinn was just perfect.

Quinn was the first to end the hug, and when she pulled away, she wiped away several tears. Rachel just smiled and ran her hands up and down the blonde's arms before holding her hands.

"Why are you crying?" Rachel quietly asked.

"Because you did it; it's what you've always wanted," Quinn replied. "Despite everything." Quinn shook her head and dropped Rachel's hands, backing away. "So many people—including me—tried to bring you down, but you still managed to ignore it all and now your dreams are finally going to come true."

"I'm not exactly in just yet," Rachel said, stepping toward Quinn.

"You will be," Quinn stated. "There is no way those NYADA judges are going to come here and not see how spectacular you are."

"You know, it's also because of people like you that I'm here now," Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand again, and pulling her closer. "The entertainment industry isn't exactly known for its kindness, so I look at everything I went through as preparation for my future. I'm sure I will always have my insecurities, but high school taught me how to mask them and appear confident even when I'm not. Besides, even when you were, as you say, trying to bring me down, you were still one of the few people that believed in me; you always thought I would get out of Lima even when I no longer knew if that's what I wanted."

Quinn smiled as she stared down at their conjoined hands. "You know, New York and New Haven are only eighty miles apart."

"I know," Rachel replied, smiling at Quinn.

"So, you looked up too?" Quinn asked, slightly blushing.

Rachel shrugged, hiding her smile. "I had to know if I was going to have at least one person I knew close by."

"Oh, is that it?" Quinn asked.

"What other reason would there be?" Rachel asked, nudging Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn laughed and then shrugged. "No other reason."

Rachel smiled. "Would you like to come to the cafeteria with me to tell everyone the news? Although, I doubt Kurt could keep quiet long enough, so they probably all already know."

"I bet he was happy," Quinn said.

"He made me promise to tell him as soon as I got it even if it was in the middle of the night," Rachel replied. "And if you know anything about Kurt—"

"He hates his beauty sleep being interrupted," Quinn finished.

Rachel nodded. "My first thought when Dad brought the letter was 'I have to find Quinn', but then I remembered I did promise Kurt, so I told him and then ran off to find you. Luckily you are rather predictable, so it didn't take long to locate you."

"Predictable, huh?" Quinn asked, raising her eyebrow. "So, where do I go when I don't want to be found?"

"Okay, so you're predictable when you're not hiding," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn laughed. "Come on—let's go so you can tell our friends the news."

"If Kurt hasn't already," Rachel added.

Quinn nodded. "Good luck with that one."

* * *

><p>"You really will throw a party for anything, won't you?" Rachel yelled above the noise.<p>

Puck laughed loudly. "I think it's a great reason to celebrate."

"You think Fridays are a reason to celebrate," Rachel replied.

"Hell yeah," Puck replied.

Rachel stared at the banner that hung in Puck's living room; 'Congratulations Rachel, Kurt, and Quinn' was scrawled in white paint, across what appeared to be a black bed sheet. The house was filled with other McKinley High students, most of which probably didn't even remotely care whether or not Quinn, Kurt, and Rachel were accepted into anything. As with all of Puck's parties, everyone was here to get drunk and have a good time.

"Is anyone else here?" Rachel yelled.

"Almost everyone is here somewhere; I know Brittany and Santana are in the kitchen and I think Kurt and Blaine are in the basement," Puck yelled back. "You'll have to look yourself if you want to find anyone else, though."

Rachel nodded. "Thanks."

She walked into the kitchen and Brittany immediately launched herself in Rachel's arms. This was the fourth time the blonde had hugged her since hearing the news the day before; she seemed almost more excited about it than anyone else.

"Britt, honey," Rachel said, patting the other girl on the back.

"Sorry," Brittany said, pulling away. "I'm just so happy for you guys."

"Yeah, at least some of you are getting out of this shitty town," Santana said before taking another drink of beer.

"You will too," Rachel replied.

Santana laughed. "Maybe—you seem to think we're going to California, right? I guess we'll see if you're right since I applied to UCLA."

"You did?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"I might have looked it up after our little talk and figured why not," Santana said, shrugging. "It's about as far away as I can get from this place, so it sounded like the perfect choice to get far, far away."

"I'm going to go dance; want to join me?" Brittany asked Santana.

Santana shook her head. "I'll find you later."

"Okay," Brittany said, giving Santana a kiss, and Rachel another quick hug.

Santana was staring at Rachel and the brunette was starting to become uncomfortable under her scrutiny. They had been alone a few times since their last conversation and the Cheerio had yet to bring it up again, but Rachel knew it was going to come back up. The other girl was probably trying to lull her into a false sense of security before springing it on her when she least expected it.

"Why didn't you tell me about your thing with Quinn?" Santana asked.

Rachel frowned; that was not the question she was expecting. "What?"

"We're friends and you didn't tell me," Santana continued and Rachel was starting to wonder how much alcohol she had consumed. "Do you still not trust me? Is it because I was such a stupid bitch to you for so long that you still don't think we're friends?"

"Santana, we're friends," Rachel said, cutting off Santana before she could say anything else. "Of course we're friends; why would you think we're not? Where is this coming from?"

"You didn't tell me about you and Q," Santana replied. "I figured it out and I was waiting for you to talk to me about it, but you never did and it hurt my feelings, okay?"

Santana was starting to cry and Rachel had no idea what to do. She knew Santana cried when she was drunk, but she had never been the cause of it before.

"I'm sorry, Santana," Rachel said, trying to hug the other girl, but she was pushing her away. "I didn't keep it from you to hurt your feelings. You're Quinn's best friend and I was trying to protect her. I know she's scared and I didn't feel right telling you; I guess I felt like she should be the one to do it. It's not that I don't trust you and I have long forgiven you for any differences we may have had in the past."

"Do you promise?" Santana asked, sniffing.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "Now, why don't we find Brittany; she would probably love to dance with you."

Santana nodded and Rachel led her to the living room where she quickly gave the girl to her girlfriend. As soon as she was in the blonde's arms, Rachel gave them both a smile, and left to find Quinn. She looked throughout the house, but didn't find her in it. Puck assured her that Quinn was around, though, so she checked the backyard. At first she didn't see her because it was so dark outside, but then she noticed her sitting in the middle of the yard, staring up at the sky.

Rachel quietly slid the door open, but before she could close it, Quinn said, "Hey."

"Are you sure you don't have that Rachel Berry sensor?" Rachel joked.

"You're the only one who ever bothers me when I'm alone," Quinn said, turning around, and winking at her.

"What are you doing out here?" Rachel asked, walking over to join her.

"Thinking," Quinn replied.

"About what?" Rachel asked, sitting down on the grass.

"About everything," Quinn said with a sigh. "But mostly about what you said. You know, about you wanting to see where this goes."

"Yeah?" Rachel said, looking at her curiously.

"I have felt something for you for a while—longer than I think even I realize," Quinn said, taking a deep breath. "It has always scared me so much, but after Nationals last year, I couldn't lie to myself anymore. I finally realized that nothing was ever about Finn—it was always about you and keeping you two apart, but I never even really wanted him; I just didn't want you to have him." Quinn shook her head and smiled sadly. "This summer—I guess you can say I stopped fighting with myself so much. Granted I went a little crazy with the hair and wardrobe, but I felt like I didn't know who I was anymore. I was scared and I tried to stay away from you when school started back, but you wouldn't let me."

"I am known for my persistence," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded and laughed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want to see where this goes as well."

Rachel smiled widely. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Quinn said, smiling back. "Obviously we need to take things slow considering—"

"We're us," Rachel finished.

"Exactly," Quinn agreed. "This is a first for both of us and, if you haven't noticed, I don't exactly make it easy for people sometimes."

"I haven't noticed at all," Rachel joked.

"I guess it's good you're persistent," Quinn noted.

"Yes, it is," Rachel agreed. "So—what now?"

"We go inside and have fun with our friends," Quinn said, standing up, and offering her hand to Rachel.

Rachel took Quinn's hand and stood up; before she could say anything else, though, Quinn leaned down and gently kissed her lips. Whatever she was about to say no longer seemed important, so she smiled softly, and the two walked into the house.

* * *

><p><strong>Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated and keep the writer happy and motivated.<strong>


	19. It's About Time

**Ad3n: Well, you get one of those things in this chapter.**

**Frankie10: You will—eventually.**

**To all the new people that commented on the last chapter: Welcome aboard and thank you for the lovely comments.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19 – It's About Time<strong>

"So, I had a thought," Rachel said, standing at the bottom of the bleachers, with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, yeah?" Quinn said, raising her eyebrow, but not bothering to look up from the book she was reading.

Rachel huffed when Quinn didn't look at her, but still asked, "What are you doing Friday night?"

"I guess that depends on whether or not Puck throws another random party," Quinn said, shrugging as she finally looked down at Rachel. "Otherwise I will probably be at home, having quality bonding time with my mother. You know, you'd think she would be happy her daughter got into Yale."

Rachel frowned. "I thought she was happy."

"She is, but now she feels like she has even less time to make up for everything since I'm moving so far away," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel nodded in understanding and walked up the bleachers. "So, she's back to the bonding time again."

"With a vengeance," Quinn replied. "She's also started asking why I don't bring my friends around more." Quinn cocked her eyebrow as she stared at Rachel. "I think she wants to meet you."

"Meet me?" Rachel asked. "Why?"

"I don't know—your name might have come up in conversation once or twice." Quinn shrugged like it was no big deal, but Rachel could tell her cheeks were tinged pink from embarrassment. "She says she barely got to meet any of you—except Santana and Britt and, unfortunately, Finn—and she wants to get to know the people that have been 'so important in my life,' as she puts it. I told you, she's going through this whole thing with wanting to know me. I think her therapist put the idea in her head."

"She's seeing a therapist?" Rachel asked.

"Since this summer," Quinn said, nodding. "That plus my change is what started this whole thing; I think then she realized she never really knew me."

Rachel shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist, you know; they can actually be quite beneficial. And I would actually love to meet your mom."

Quinn raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Really," Rachel said, smiling. "On one condition."

"What's that?" Quinn asked.

"You say yes to us going on a date Friday night," Rachel replied.

"Deal," Quinn agreed. "Do you feel like spending tomorrow night at the Fabray house?"

"Sounds like fun," Rachel said, smiling.

"You did hear the part about spending the evening with my mother, right?" Quinn asked.

Rachel laughed. "Yes, I heard that part."

"Okay," Quinn replied. "And you know, you could have just asked and I would have said yes."

Rachel giggled. "I know."

Every time Rachel looked at Quinn now, she couldn't help but smile. It was amazing to her how the other girl could go from being her tormenter to one of her best friends—and possibly a lot more than that. This was why she was such a firm believer in giving people second chances, though; you could miss so much if you never forgave.

"Do you want me to ask Brittany and Santana to come over tomorrow night?" Quinn asked. "They can—well, probably not help one bit knowing Santana, but at least it would take some focus off you. My mother can be a little overbearing and intense when she has guests over."

Rachel laughed. "I'll be okay."

"You're sure?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded. "I appreciate your concern, but I'll be okay."

Quinn sighed, rolled her eyes, and mumbled, "What is he doing here?"

"Who?" Rachel asked, following Quinn's gaze, and then sighing. "Finn."

Rachel watched as Finn approached them; he smiled and waved as soon as he noticed Rachel looking at him. Quinn rolled her eyes and looked away as Finn jogged up the bleachers, clearly intent on coming over to where they were seated.

"I was looking for you," Finn said, looking at Rachel.

"Well, you found her," Quinn replied, sounding irritated.

"Can we meet a little early for Glee today?" Finn asked. "I had a few ideas for Regionals and I thought we could go over them since we are co-captains and I feel like we need to bring the club together again. Unless we want to meet at lunch; we could do it then instead."

"Before Glee is fine, Finn," Rachel replied.

"Cool," Finn said, smiling.

Rachel nodded and waited for Finn to leave, but he was still standing there, looking at her. She was really starting to get annoyed by his behavior, but she was also trying to remain civil even if she sometimes wanted to tell him to take a hint. Quinn, however, was glaring at him and looked as if she would very much like to hit him.

"Is there something else I can help you with?" Rachel asked, sighing.

"Oh, sorry," Finn said, shaking his head. "It's just—I realized yesterday that I never told you congrats for getting your letter. I know how much going to New York means to you and I really hope you get in." Finn looked a Quinn and smiled at her. "You too, Quinn. I know we've not always gotten along, but it's really cool that you're going to Yale."

"Well—thank you, Finn," Rachel said, looking over at Quinn in surprise.

"Yeah, thanks," Quinn mumbled.

"I'll see you later!" Finn said, turning around, and finally leaving.

Rachel frowned in confusion. "What was that about?"

"I don't know," Quinn sighed, "but he's probably up to something."

"I hope he's being sincere, but I'm afraid you're probably correct," Rachel replied.

"He still wants you back," Quinn stated.

"He may want me back, but he isn't getting me back," Rachel firmly said. "It is my duty as Glee Club co-captain to hear what he has to say, though. I hope you understand why I have to meet him."

"What you do is your business," Quinn replied, taking Rachel's hand that was resting on the metal between them. "And I understand that you have to meet with him—that doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

Rachel smiled softly at the blonde. "You have nothing to worry about, you know."

Quinn shook her head. "I always have something to worry about."

"Not about this," Rachel stated.

Quinn looked at Rachel for a second and then looked away, nodding. "I trust you, Rachel."

"Good," Rachel said, standing up. "Am I allowed to walk you to class?"

"That sounds more like something that happens _after_ the first date," Quinn replied.

Rachel laughed. "How about I unofficially walk you to class, then?"

"I think that's allowed," Quinn said, shrugging, but then she looked at Rachel and smiled. "I would love it if you would walk me to class."

* * *

><p>Rachel stood outside the Fabray residence, staring at the door; she hadn't been this nervous in a long time and she didn't even know why she was. Sure she and Quinn liked each other and were seeing where that might take them, but they were not officially an item, and hadn't even been on a date yet. Quinn's mom had no idea about her daughter and, as far as she knew, Rachel was a friend and nothing more.<p>

Regardless of whether or not Quinn's mom knew she wanted to date her daughter, Rachel still wanted to make a good impression. She had briefly met the woman at the hospital after Quinn had given birth to Beth, but it was the one and only time she had seen her. She knew from Quinn that her mom wasn't quite as bigoted at her father, but Rachel was still afraid of the older woman not accepting her, which would only make things harder on the younger Fabray.

Rachel smoothed down her dress and grabbed her compact, making sure her hair and makeup still looked perfect. She tried on seven outfits before finally picking the navy dress she was wearing; even now she was having second thoughts about it, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She took a deep breath and finally rang the doorbell, nervously smoothing her dress down again.

When the door opened, there was a very annoyed looking Quinn standing in the doorway. "Save me."

Rachel laughed as she was pulled into the house by the blonde. "Save you from what?"

"My mother," Quinn whispered. "She has been cooking and cleaning since the moment I told her you were coming over and she's making me clean things that are already clean."

"But it's just me," Rachel said.

"I told her that," Quinn replied. "She seems to think it's a big deal, though."

"Well, it's not completely unimportant," Rachel said, shrugging. "I am meeting your mom."

"I know," Quinn replied, smiling softly. "But she doesn't know she's meeting my—"

"Your what?" Rachel asked when Quinn stopped talking.

"My—girl that I'm—you know—" Rachel suddenly started laughing and Quinn narrowed her eyes. "Okay, that was just mean."

"Sorry, I wanted to see what you came up with," Rachel said, covering her mouth to hide her smile.

Quinn huffed. "I think you're hanging around Santana _way_ too much."

"Honey, are you talking to someone?" Quinn mother called from a few rooms away.

"Yes, Rachel's here," Quinn yelled back.

"Oh, why didn't you say anything, dear," the older woman asked as she hurried into the room.

"Hello, Mrs. Fabray, I'm Rachel Berry," Rachel said, holding her hand out to the woman.

"Call me Judy, please," she replied, ignoring Rachel's hand, and pulling her into a light hug. "Quinn has told me so much about you."

"Really?" Rachel asked, looking toward Quinn, and raising her eyebrows.

"Ever since she joined that club of yours, it's always been Rachel this and Rachel that," Judy said, smiling at Rachel, and completely missing her daughter's embarrassment. "She told me last week that you're a NYADA finalist."

"I am," Rachel replied. "My friend, Kurt, and I both received our letters."

"I bet you're excited," Judy said, putting her arm around Rachel, and ushering her into the den. "Quinn mentioned you've always dreamed of being on Broadway."

"It's been my dream for as long as I can remember," Rachel said, smiling.

"You have such a lovely voice," Judy said, motioning for Rachel to take a seat on the couch. "I heard you perform several years ago; I wish I could get to more of your guys' competitions, but it's hard to take off from work."

"Maybe you can see us at Regionals," Rachel replied. "They're only a few weeks away."

"I would love that; I will have to see what I can do," Judy said before turning to Quinn. "Why didn't you tell me you have a big competition coming up?" Quinn didn't say anything, but shrugged, and Judy sighed. "My daughter is always so stubborn."

"Mom!" Quinn said, hiding her face in her hands.

"She is," Rachel agreed; Quinn removed her face form her hands and glared at her. "Well, you are."

"Thanks," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

"But you're also sweet and intelligent and a wonderful friend and—"

"Yeah, yeah," Quinn said, blushing profusely. "Is dinner ready?"

Quinn stood up and walked across the den toward what Rachel assumed was the kitchen. Judy and Rachel were both watching her with smiles on their faces.

"I want to thank you," Judy said as soon as Quinn was out of the room.

"For what?" Rachel asked.

"Quinn has had a tough time," Judy replied. "First with the pregnancy and everything last year and then I don't even know what this summer. My daughter can be stubborn and not let people in, but I know you've helped her. I hear the way she talks about you and I know you mean a great deal to her. She admires you and I want to thank you for being there for her. I know you two have had a rough history, but she also told me that you never gave up on her, so thank you for being such a wonderful friend to my daughter."

"You don't have to thank me," Rachel said, looking down at her hands. "I knew there was so much more to Quinn than she would let people see; I'm just happy she finally let me see that other side of her."

"Are you coming?" Quinn yelled from the other room.

"Speaking of my wonderful daughter," Judy said, laughing lightly. "Let's eat, shall we? Now, I would like to assure you that I am normally an excellent cook, but everything is from this new vegan cookbook I bought, and I've never made a vegan meal before, so I make no guarantees."

Rachel smiled. "I'm sure it will be wonderful."

* * *

><p>Quinn flopped, face first onto her bed and mumbled, "That was exhausting."<p>

Rachel laughed as she closed Quinn's bedroom door. "It was just dinner."

"Dinner in which my friend and my mom did everything they could to embarrass me," Quinn said, looking up, and giving Rachel a pointed look.

"I'm sorry," Rachel said, trying to hide her smile. "But I sort of liked hearing about you as a child."

"There are just some stories no one ever needs to know," Quinn replied. "See, this is exactly why I never bring my friends over; they will come out knowing things I never want them to know. You have no idea how many embarrassing stories Santana knows about me and likes to use as ammunition to get her way."

"Your mom obviously loves you very much," Rachel said, sitting near the corner of the bed. "My dads are the exact same way; when people come around, they want to tell about everything I have ever done. I know it's embarrassing, but I also know they do it because they're proud of me. It's why your mom does it, too."

"Then I wish she was a _little_ less proud of me," Quinn replied.

"No, you don't," Rachel said, smiling softly

Quinn shook her head but smiled. "My mother seems to like you."

"I hope so," Rachel replied. "I must admit, I was nervous about meeting her."

"Why?" Quinn asked.

"Because she's your mom," Rachel replied. "I wanted to make a good impression; I could only imagine what she probably thought of me from before. I know your father wasn't exactly accepting of lifestyles that are different than his and I was just afraid—"

"That my whole family hated yours?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded. "And given how I feel about you, I didn't want your mom to have any negative feelings toward me."

"Well, she likes you—I think she likes you more than she likes me, actually," Quinn joked.

Rachel laughed and looked around; she realized this was the first time she had been inside Quinn's bedroom. The upper half of several walls was a solid, light purple while the others had ornately patterned wallpaper on them. The bottom half of the wall had white paneling, which matched the doors and bookshelves. The shelves were full of books, trophies, and picture frames, most of which contained pictures of various Glee members. The room was slightly girly, but it also had a bit of sophistication, and was exactly what Rachel pictured the blonde's room to look like.

"Your room is very you," Rachel said, still looking around.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Quinn asked.

Rachel looked at her and smiled. "It's a good thing." Rachel looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "I should probably head home; it is a school night and all."

Quinn nodded. "I'll walk you out."

Quinn walked Rachel down the stairs and waited in the foyer as the brunette went to say goodbye and thank Judy. When she walked back, Quinn was leaning against the door, watching her.

"Thank you for inviting me," Rachel said, reaching out, and lightly grasping Quinn's hand.

"I'm glad you came," Quinn replied.

The blonde strained, looking over Rachel's shoulder; Rachel followed her gaze, but didn't know what the other girl was looking at. She turned her head around to ask Quinn what it was, but before she could say anything, the other girl's lips were on hers. The kiss was quick—barely more than a peck—yet Rachel couldn't help but smile when the blonde pulled away.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Quinn softly said.

* * *

><p>After driving for nearly forty-five minutes, Rachel finally pulled her car into one of the empty spots along the street. There were quite a few other cars around, and people were walking along the sidewalk, laughing, and enjoying the cool—but not too cold—night.<p>

"This better be worth it, Berry," Quinn said, but she was smiling. "So—where are we?"

"We are forty miles from Lima," Rachel stated. "I wanted to bring you someplace you would feel comfortable. I didn't want you to be worried that someone might see us. As for our activity for tonight, I thought about dinner and movie, but that seemed too cliché for our first date. I wanted to do something fun, though, so I think I found the perfect thing."

"What is it?" Quinn asked. "It's not bowling, is it?"

Rachel laughed. "No.

"Good," Quinn replied. "Because that's where Finn took me for our first date and it was terrible."

"Bowling can actually be quite fun—f you're with the right people," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind if I ever get the urge to bowl," Quinn replied. "But you never answered my question."

"You will see in a moment," Rachel said, opening the car door.

Quinn followed suit and the two got out of the car; Rachel smiled to herself as the blonde looked around, trying to figure out what they were about to do. Rachel had parked a few blocks down from their destination, though, so Quinn wouldn't immediately know.

"We're not robbing a bank, are we?" Quinn asked.

Rachel laughed again. "No, we are not."

"Good," Quinn replied. "But I don't really see anything else around here."

"Come with me," Rachel said, reaching her hand out for Quinn to take.

When Quinn took her hand, Rachel started walking along the sidewalk. They walked a few blocks and when they rounded the corner, she looked over to see the blonde's face.

"Is this it?" Quinn asked, smiling.

"I hope this isn't too cliché," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed lightly. "I think it's just cliché enough."

They were standing across the street from a small park, but in the middle of the park was an outdoor skating rink. She had once heard Quinn talking about how she had loved ice skating as a kid, but she knew the blonde hadn't been in a long time.

"How did you find this place?" Quinn asked.

"The internet is a wonderful thing," Rachel said, smiling. "I was trying to find something outside of Lima and when I found this, it was exactly what I was looking for."

"I used to love ice skating," Quinn said, still looking across the street. "Frannie and I went all the time, but then she started high school and told me only losers do it, so I stopped too. I almost went with Brittany once, but Sylvester found out and forbid it."

Rachel frowned. "How could she do that?"

"She makes all the Cheerios sign a contract and in it is a list of all the activities we're not allowed to do," Quinn replied. "She doesn't want any of us to get hurt before a competition and ruin her chances of winning."

"But she'll try to shoot Brittany out of a canon?" Rachel said, incredulously.

"That's _for_ the Cheerios," Quinn replied. "She doesn't care if we get hurt then, just if we get hurt for 'frivolous reasons'. I know it doesn't make sense, but look who we're talking about."

Rachel shrugged in agreement. "I guess it's a good thing you're not on the Cheerios anymore."

"I guess it is," Quinn said, smiling.

Rachel nodded toward the park and tugged on Quinn's hand. After some debate, Rachel paid for both of them, insisting that the rules of dating etiquette say that whoever asks for the date should be the one to pay for it. She could tell the blonde was excited from the moment she saw the place, but when she finally stepped onto the ice, she was beaming.

"Whoa," Rachel said, stepping onto the ice right after Quinn.

Quinn laughed and held her hands out, ready to catch Rachel. "Are you okay? Have you ever done this before?"

Rachel nodded. "It's been a while, though."

Technically she hadn't ever been in this life, but when she was older and went to New York, she and Kurt would go before they went home for the holidays. Even though she was with Finn and Kurt was in various relationships, they would always go, just the two of them. No matter how busy their lives got, they always made sure to find the time to go together. She was never very good, though, and Kurt always joked that it was the one thing she couldn't do perfectly.

Quinn smiled. "You're not going to fall, are you?"

Rachel wobbled a little bit, but otherwise remained standing. "I sincerely hope not."

The two went around the multiple times; Quinn stuck by Rachel's side, catching her on several occasions, and nearly being taken down with her on another. When they were both finally out of breath, from both the exertion of skating and from laughing so much, Quinn led them over to the exit.

"I always forget what a workout that is," Rachel said, sitting on a bench, and wiping at the perspiration on her forehead.

Quinn laughed as she took her skates off. "It didn't seem like it when I was a child."

"Are you hungry?" Rachel asked as she started untying her skates.

"I am," Quinn replied.

Rachel smiled. "Great."

* * *

><p>As Rachel drove them home, music was softly coming from the car's speakers, and Quinn's hand was gently rested in hers. She couldn't think of a more perfect date than the one she had just been on, and it wasn't because she planned it, but because of Quinn. The blonde was funny, charming, courteous, a good conversationalist—all the things her dates usually lacked. They mostly talked about Glee and what they wanted to do after they got out of Lima; for the first time, though, Rachel didn't feel like she had to carry the conversation, which she always had to do with Finn and the guys she had casually dated since the divorce.<p>

By the time she pulled into Quinn's driveway, she sighed, disappointed that the night was already over. They had to get up early, though, since everyone in Glee decided they needed to get together outside of school if they had any chance of winning Regionals, which was only two weeks away. On Wednesday, Kurt asked if everyone could come over to Rachel's house early Saturday morning; she had been reluctant—causing Kurt to look at her like she had come from another planet—but, ultimately, she and Quinn decided it was important and they would just have to not be out too late.

She had been holding Quinn's hand the whole way and immediately missed it when she had to let go to step out of the car. When she walked around, though, Quinn was smiling, her hand reaching out for Rachel to take. Rachel walked the blonde to the door, where she stood, feeling slightly awkward. There were several lights on inside the house, so Rachel assumed Judy must be up, and she didn't know if it was okay for her to kiss Quinn goodnight.

"What?" Quinn asked, smiling as she watched Rachel fidgeting with her hands.

"Am I allowed to kiss you goodnight?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed. "Isn't that usually how a date ends?"

"I know, but your mom is inside, and I wouldn't want to do anything that wou—"

Rachel was cut off when Quinn's lips met hers, causing the brunette to squeak in surprise. She felt Quinn slip her arms around her waist just as Rachel wrapped her arms around the back of Quinn's neck. The blonde pulled her close as Rachel opened her mouth, allowing Quinn access. The blonde's tongue was much warmer than her lips, and she still tasted like hot chocolate from when they stopped at a small coffee shop after dinner. Rachel was enjoying the feel of Quinn's warm body pressed against her, and moaned slightly when Quinn pulled away, nipping at her bottom lip along the way.

"Sorry," Quinn said.

"For what?" Rachel asked, reaching up, and brushing her thumb along Quinn's lips.

"I can't stop wanting to kiss you," Quinn replied, still holding Rachel against her.

Rachel smiled. "Sounds like a terrible problem."

"Oh, it is," Quinn replied. "Especially considering people are not supposed to know and we agreed to take things slowly."

"I think I can forgive you," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed and leaned down, kissing Rachel again, but this time it was quick and Quinn was smiling when she pulled back. "Thank you for tonight; I think it's safe to say it was the best date I've been on."

Rachel smiled shyly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it; I must say I was nervous when planning tonight."

"It was perfect," Quinn stated.

Rachel leaned up, giving Quinn's cheek a kiss. "I'll see you bright and early. Goodnight, Quinn."

"Goodnight, Rach," Quinn said, letting go of the brunette.

As Rachel walked away, she looked back and sighed, but slowly smiled and waved to the blonde, who waved back before closing her front door. Tonight really went by too quickly for Rachel, and she was already thinking about when they would go on their second date.

* * *

><p>"It's too damn early to be up on a Saturday, Berry."<p>

Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's nice to see you too, Santana. And in case you forgot, it wasn't _my_ idea to meet this early; you can thank Kurt for that."

"Did I hear my name?" Kurt asked, walking up to Rachel's door with Blaine by his side.

"Please, like you had anything to keep you out late," Santana replied. "Britt and I, on the other hand—"

"Okay, that's enough," Kurt said, trying to cover his ears, but failing since his hands were full.

"Ignore him," Blaine said, chuckling.

"Here, let me take that," Rachel said, reaching for the large box.

"We figured we would bring doughnuts and coffee," Blaine said, motioning to his hands. "I figured it was the least we could do for making everyone give up their Saturday morning."

"No, the least you could do is—"

"Santana," Rachel said, interrupting the girl. "Why don't you take those off Blaine's hands and come into the kitchen with me. Blaine, Kurt, why don't you two head for the basement."

Santana huffed, but did as she was asked; she followed Rachel into the kitchen and unceremoniously dumped the trays of coffee onto the counter. Rachel noticed each of the Glee kids had their name on one of the cups and she smiled when she found hers. She then grabbed Santana's and handed it to her, hoping the Cheerio would stop complaining if she got some caffeine into her system.

"Q tells me you met her mom the other day," Santana said, sitting down on one of the stools at the island.

"I did," Rachel replied. "I had a lovely dinner at their home."

"Meeting the parents already," Santana said, cocking her eyebrow.

"It wasn't like that," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Her mom wants to be more involved in her life, so she wants to get to know her friends a bit better."

"So, you two still haven't gotten your shit together?" Santana asked.

"Quinn and I are taking things slowly, but we have both agreed to see where things take us," Rachel replied. "That being said—last night we went on our first date."

Santana looked genuinely surprised. "Seriously?"

"Yes, Santana, seriously," Rachel said, laughing.

"It's about damn time; it only took months for you two to finally realize you like each other and get on with it," Santana said, smirking. "Just think, by the summer maybe you will actually kiss a second time."

"I can assure you, Santana, that we have kissed more than once," Rachel replied, blushing a bit. "Not that it's any of your business."

Santana rolled her eyes again, but her face softened. "You know I'm joking; it's my job as yours and Q's friend to give you a hard time."

"A hard time about what?"

Santana and Rachel both turned around to find Quinn and Brittany standing in the archway. Quinn had her hands on her hips and her eyebrow raised as she narrowed her eyes at her best friend.

"Just about you and the midget," Santana said, shrugging.

"Hey!" Rachel said, playfully smacking Santana's arm. "You're not that much taller than I am, if you haven't noticed."

"I think everyone else is coming in," Quinn said, looking over her shoulder.

"We should probably take these to the basement," Rachel said, nodding to the doughnuts and coffee.

"Why the hell did we bring them in here then?" Santana asked, scowling.

"I'll help you," Quinn said, walking the rest of the way into the kitchen and grabbing one of the trays of coffee.

"I can take that," Brittany said, grabbing the box of doughnuts. "San, grab the rest of the drinks."

Santana did what was asked of her without complaint and Rachel noticed Quinn smirking. Santana seemed to notice it as well because she flipped Quinn off as she walked out of the kitchen.

Quinn rolled her eyes at the gesture, but then looked at Rachel and smiled softly. "Good morning."

"Good morning," Rachel replied.

Quinn walked closer to Rachel, who had her back against the island, and stood directly in front of her. The blonde put her hand on Rachel's waist and leaned in, placing a gentle kiss to her lips.

"You seem happy this morning," Rachel said, trying to hold back her smile.

Quinn shrugged. "I had an okay night."

"Only okay?" Rachel asked, laughing lightly.

Rachel heard heavy footsteps coming their way followed by, "Hey, are you two coming down?"

Quinn sighed loudly before turning around. "Yes, Finn, we're coming down."

"Santana made me come ask, I swear," Finn said, holding his hands up.

Rachel tilted her head so she could see past Quinn to look at the boy. "We'll be down in a moment."

She noticed Finn look back as he walked away and he had a slight frown on his face. Sighing, she turned back to Quinn, and said, "We should get down there."

Quinn sighed as well, but entwined her fingers with Rachel's and the two walked toward the basement door. Halfway down the stairs, Quinn let go of her hand, and they walked the rest of the way down to find everyone from Glee sitting around the room. Most of them looked sleepy, several looked unhappy about being there, but a few others actually looked excited.

"Okay, we're all here because Mr. Schue is—" Kurt paused as if he was trying to find the right word.

"Running Glee into the ground?" Santana finished.

Kurt frowned for a moment before saying, "Okay, yes; I was going to try to put it a little nicer than that, but yes."

"What are you talking about?" Finn asked. "Mr. Schue brought us together; there wouldn't be a Glee club without him."

"As much as I hate to say it, Berry is what brought Glee together," Santana said, cringing at her own words. "Mr. Schue is too busy trying to get into the redhead's perfectly ironed skirt to run the club."

"But—"

"She's right, Finn," Mercedes interrupted. "Regionals are two weeks from today and we don't have a set list."

"He gave us that assignment, said everyone did great, but never made a decision about anything," Mike added.

"Listen, we're all here because we want to win," Rachel said, looking around. "I think we should all agree not to leave this basement until we at least have a theme, three songs, and who is singing those songs."

"Who says Mr. Schue will even agree to what we come up with?" Finn asked.

"We'll make him," Quinn replied.

"I think San and Rach should do it," Brittany blurted out.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Excuse me?" Quinn asked at the same time as Rachel.

"She means duet; she thinks we should do a duet," Santana explained, patting her girlfriend's arm.

"Oh," Rachel replied, blushing.

"Why should they?" Finn asked. "Everyone knows me and Rachel do the best duets."

"Why should Rachel automatically be the one to perform the duet?" Mercedes asked. "Give the rest of us a chance."

"I agree," Kurt replied. "I think Blaine and I would do a wonderful duet together."

Rachel sighed and turned to Quinn as the rest of the New Directions argued with each other. "This is going to be a very long day."

* * *

><p><strong>*Gasp* A chapter that was almost completely Faberry <strong>_**and**_** a Faberry date.**

**Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated and keep the writer happy and motivated. **


	20. Be Mine

**Jules-Day: You will definitely get to see more of the interactions later on; it's not the last time she'll be at the Fabray house.**

**Phoebex13: Always good to know there are some people that enjoy my Will bashing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20 – Be Mine<strong>

"You look awfully happy," Kurt said, eyeing Rachel over his latte.

Rachel shrugged and smiled.

"Maybe she's just having a good morning," Blaine suggested.

"It's Monday—everyone is miserable on Monday morning," Kurt replied. "I think this might have to do with a certain blonde, ex-Cheerio that we all know."

"Can't I just be happy?" Rachel asked.

"No," Kurt replied.

"Fine, yes, it might have something to do with Quinn," Rachel said, blushing.

"I knew it!" Kurt said, his voice rising. "You have been holding back on us; I told Blaine you were. Something else has happened since that New Year's kiss, hasn't it? I'm your best friend, why didn't you tell me?"

"I know and I'm sorry, but—" Rachel sighed and then shrugged. "I don't really know. I know I usually want to tell everything, to anyone who will listen, anytime I have some new romantic interest in my life, but this is different. This isn't me jumping into some guy's arms because I want the perfect leading man."

"You don't have to explain, sweetie," Blaine said, putting his hand atop Rachel's. "Quinn is special; we both get that. You don't have to tell either of us anything."

Kurt scoffed and stared at Blaine. "Speak for yourself."

Rachel laughed. "It's fine; I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it from Kurt for too long. It's just like that time I went on a date with—never mind."

"With who?" Kurt asked, narrowing his eyes.

Rachel waved him off. "It's not important."

Sometimes Rachel forgot she was talking to past-Kurt and not future-Kurt. Her best friend never really seemed to change and it was easy for her to forget that this wasn't the guy she had been friends with for nearly half her life. The reality was, he never really would be the same person she left behind. Her changing things would mean she and Kurt wouldn't experience the same things they did before, which would inadvertently change their friendship.

"Fine," Kurt replied. "Tell me everything that's happened and I do expect details."

"Things were a little weird between us for a while, but Quinn showed up at my house several weeks ago and things started changing," Rachel said. "I finally realized that I want to see where this thing between us takes us and I told her, but she was still afraid. Last Friday at Puck's party, though, she told me she wants to as well, so we decided to take things slow. We finally went on our first date this weekend, though, and we had a wonderful time."

"Have you two kissed again?" Kurt asked.

"Kurt!" Blaine said, frowning at his boyfriend.

"What?" Kurt asked, looking at Blaine. "I'm just curious if she runs after every kiss."

Rachel laughed. "I am happy to say she has stopped doing that."

Blaine smiled. "It's nice to see you truly happy."

Rachel smiled back and then ducked her head. "It's nice to be happy; it's been a while. I just never thought Quinn would be the cause of it. For so long I thought she hated me. and then she just seemed to tolerate me, but now—" Rachel shook her head. "Let's just say, I'm glad she finally changed her mind about me."

"You know, some people do dumb things when they're scared," Blaine replied. "I know I didn't really get to know her until this year, but I don't think Quinn has ever hated you."

"She told me that she's felt something for me longer than she's realized, so maybe you're right," Rachel said, shrugging.

"She was an amazing actress, though," Kurt said, sipping his drink. "You don't know what it was like during our sophomore year when the three Cheerios first joined Glee. They only joined to sabotage us and they treated Rachel worst of all. Most of us kept an extra set of clothes in our locker because we were getting slushied so much and Quinn was the cause of most of that for Rachel."

"Denial is a powerful thing," Blaine said, shrugging. "Just look at how Karofsky treated Kurt."

"Wait—Karofsky liked you and that's why he bullied you so much?" Rachel asked even though it wasn't new information to her.

Kurt nodded. "He kissed me once."

"Really?" Rachel asked, frowning; Kurt had never once told her that Karofsky had kissed him.

"Not long before I transferred to Dalton," Kurt replied.

"I—" Rachel paused, remembering something. "You haven't been getting any mysterious Valentines this past week, have you?"

"No," Kurt replied. "Why?"

"I was merely wondering," Rachel replied. "Can you let me know if you do start receiving any?"

Kurt frowned and locked eyes with Blaine. "What makes you think someone is going to do that."

Rachel sighed. "It's hard to explain; can you just trust me?"

She had completely forgotten about Karofsky and his attempted suicide; she knew Kurt and Blaine never went to the gay club with Sebastian, though, so maybe Kurt had never run into his former tormenter again. Kurt had told her that the reason for his suicide attempt was that someone from his school had overheard him at Breadstix, so if she could prevent that from happening, maybe she could prevent him from trying to kill himself.

"I do trust you," Kurt replied. "But I must say, Blaine and I are worried about you. We've both noticed that you have been acting a little strange lately and we want to make sure everything is okay with you."

"Everything is perfectly fine," Rachel immediately stated.

"Okay, but if anything was wrong, you would tell us, right?" Kurt asked, looking at her in concern.

"Of course, Kurt," Rachel said, smiling softly. "I assure you, though, everything is great. There is absolutely no need to worry about me." Rachel pulled out her phone from her purse to look at the time. "I hate to run, but I'm supposed to meet Quinn in five minutes."

"It's fine," Blaine said, smiling at her.

"Yes, abandon us to be with your girl," Kurt joked.

"I wouldn't exactly call her my girl just yet," Rachel said, hugging Blaine and then hugging Kurt. "I'll see you two in a bit."

Rachel took a deep breath as she walked toward the Lima Bean's exit. First Santana and now Kurt and Blaine; this whole double life thing was more complicated than she originally thought it was going to be.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing out here, Berry?" Santana asked, walking up to her.<p>

She looked up, surprised to see Santana behind her; she was sitting outside, at one of the tables in the courtyard, waiting on Quinn since the blonde asked to meet her there.

"I'm waiting on Quinn," Rachel answered.

"Where is your girlfriend?" Santana asked. "Off serenading someone with The God Squad?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "She's not my girlfriend—yet."

"Whatever," Santana said, plopping down across from Rachel. "When you see her, can you ask her who came up with that lame ass name? I mean, The God Squad—really? Why is she even with them when they're probably going to kick her out if they ever find out about you two?"

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, frowning.

Santana shook her head. "This school just sucks sometimes."

"Santana?" Rachel said, tilting her head.

"Someone complained about me and Britt, and if I ever figure out who did it, I'm going to kick their ass back to the Middle Ages where they belong," Santana said, huffing. "I think it was that new kid in Quinn's little group."

"You don't know that," Rachel replied. "There are a lot of bigots in this school; you saw how they treated Kurt, so it's not necessarily him."

Santana raised her eyebrow as she looked past Rachel. "I wonder who they're singing to now."

"Excuse me, are you Miss Rachel Berry?" Mercedes asked, coming up to her.

"Umm, yeah," Rachel said, quirking her eyebrow at Quinn, who was standing right behind Mercedes.

"Well, we're The God Squad and we're here to deliver a vocal Valentine from a secret admirer," Mercedes said, smiling at her.

Quinn was smirking at her and Rachel had no doubt who her secret admirer was.

Joe was strumming on his guitar and Sam stepped forward, kneeling on one knee, and his arms outstretched as he started singing.

"_You're better than the best  
><em>_I'm lucky just to linger in your light  
><em>_Cooler than the flipside of my pillow, that's right  
><em>_Completely unaware  
><em>_Nothin' can compare to where you send me  
><em>_Lets me know that it's okay, yeah it's okay  
><em>_And the moments when my good times start to fade"_

Rachel could feel everyone in the courtyard staring at her and she knew her cheeks were red from embarrassment, but she also couldn't seem to stop smiling. The whole group was serenading her through the chorus, but Rachel only had eyes for Quinn.

"_You make me smile like the sun  
><em>_Fall out of bed  
><em>_Sing like a bird  
><em>_Dizzy in my head  
><em>_Spin like a record  
><em>_Crazy on a Sunday night"_

Quinn put her hand out for Rachel to take and pulled her so she was standing up; the blonde twirled her around and Rachel giggled. She glanced at Santana just in time to see her roll her eyes, but she could also tell the Cheerio was holding back a smile of her own.

"_You make me dance like a fool  
><em>_Forget how to breathe  
><em>_Shine like gold  
><em>_Buzz like a bee  
><em>_Just the thought of you can drive me wild  
><em>_Oh you make me smile"_

Mercedes and Sam started singing together and were dancing goofily with one another; Sam grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her closer to them. This time, he spun her around and then danced around her as the two sung to her.

"_Even when you're gone  
><em>_Somehow you come along just like a flower  
><em>_Poking through the sidewalk crack  
><em>_And just like that, you steal away the rain  
><em>_And just like that"_

Quinn's soft voice was the only thing she could focus on; the other girl had her hands wrapped lightly around Rachel's waist and her hazel eyes were staring into the brunette's. Rachel was slightly shocked at the blonde's boldness since it felt like half the school was watching them, but Quinn sung to her like there was no one else around.

"_Don't know how I lived without you  
><em>'_Cause every time that I get around you  
><em>_I see the best of me inside your eyes  
><em>_You make me smile"_

Even as the four went through the chorus again, and finished out the song, Rachel stared into Quinn's eyes. The blonde seemed so sincere with her singing and Rachel was fighting back tears by the time the song started coming to a close. They had agreed not to do anything for Valentine's Day because they both felt like it was put too much pressure on them too soon, but this was perfect, and Rachel could think of anything sweeter.

"_You make me smile like the sun  
><em>_Fall out of bed  
><em>_Sing like a bird  
><em>_Dizzy in my head  
><em>_Spin like a record  
><em>_Crazy on a Sunday night_

"_You make me dance like a fool  
><em>_Forget how to breathe  
><em>_Shine like gold  
><em>_Buzz like a bee  
><em>_Just the thought of you can drive me wild  
><em>_Oh you make me smile_

"_Oh you make me smile  
><em>_Oh you make me smile"_

Everyone started clapping and Joe, Sam, and Mercedes bowed to their audience. Quinn, however, was wrapped up in Rachel's hug since the brunette threw herself into the other girl's arms the moment the song was over. As soon as she released Quinn, she quickly pulled Sam and Mercedes into a hug as well and then nodded to Joe.

"Well, wasn't that sweet," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "Your secret admirer is a complete sap who seriously needs to stop being so damn lame."

Quinn glared at Santana, but Rachel knew there really wasn't much else the blonde could do to retaliate without people figuring it out.

"You may have said it out of sarcasm, Santana, but that was very sweet," Rachel stated.

"If you'll excuse us, we have another job to do," Sam said, bowing dramatically.

Santana scrunched up her face. "I think I'm going to gag."

"Shut up, Santana," Quinn said, scowling at her. "I'll see you later, Rach."

Quinn gave her hand a squeeze and then followed the other three through the crowd. Rachel smiled softly as she watched the blonde, but then turned around crossed her arms.

"Do you have to ruin every nice moment?" she asked.

Santana smirked, shrugging. "I do seem to be damn good at it, don't I?"

* * *

><p>It was a little after nine when Rachel heard her doorbell ring; her fathers were out for their Valentine's dinner, so she stood up from the couch and walked to the door. When she opened it, she was surprised to find Quinn standing on her doorstep, smiling shyly, and holding a grocery bag.<p>

"If I bribe you with vegan ice cream, can I come in?" Quinn asked.

"Why would you need to bribe me to come in?" Rachel asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Because we agreed not to spend Valentine's Day together?" Quinn said.

"No, we agreed not to go on a date on Valentine's Day," Rachel replied. "No one ever said anything about being barred from seeing one another tonight."

"Oh, well in that case, I'll take back the ice cream," Quinn said.

"Give me that bag," Rachel said, holding her hand out.

Quinn handed it to her and laughed. "So, I can come in?"

"Of course," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

Quinn stepped inside and looked around the house. "Are your dads home?"

Rachel shook her head. "They're on a date."

"It's nice that they still spend time with each other," Quinn said, smiling sadly. "I don't ever remember my parents going on a date; not even on days like today. That's probably why yours are happy and in love and why mine are divorced, though."

"Quinn—"

"No, don't say anything," Quinn said, sighing. "I've never liked Valentine's Day very much so ignore me."

"I'll go get a spoon; make yourself at home," Rachel said, heading for the kitchen.

She grabbed a spoon and made her way back into the living room. Quinn was sitting on the couch, leaning against the arm of it, and looking at the television.

"You watch this?" Quinn asked, pointing toward the TV.

"No," Rachel said, grabbing the remote control, and turning it off. "I was channel surfing when you knocked and it just happened to land on that. I don't even know what it is."

"I'm sorry, I will never accuse you of watching reality television ever again," Quinn said, laughing.

"Good," Rachel said, sitting down in the middle of the couch. "I can't believe you actually found me ice cream; where did you even get it?"

Quinn shrugged. "I drove to the next town."

"Quinn!" Rachel said, surprised.

"What?" Quinn asked. "It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal," Rachel replied, opening the container, and grabbing a spoonful of it. "Want to try it."

"I'll pass," Quinn said, scrunching her nose.

Rachel laughed. "Your loss. Hey—aren't you supposed to be at Sugar's party? I thought you guys were performing there tonight."

Quinn shrugged. "I had places I'd rather be. Besides, it would give Santana more opportunity to mock me."

"She's probably just angry she didn't think of it first," Rachel replied, smiling.

"So—today I found out that Brittany knows about us," Quinn said, glancing at Rachel. "Not that I'm surprised; she said Santana never told her and that she figured it out way before anyone else did, which I believe. People generally discount Brittany as being stupid, but she knows a lot more than what people give her credit for."

Rachel nodded. "I had the feeling she knew. She said something months ago that didn't make any sense then, but then it made perfect sense once I figured out your feelings."

"Like I said, she's smarter than people give her credit for," Quinn said, laughing lightly. "So, Santana and Brittany both know now."

Rachel nodded and then cleared her throat. "As do Kurt and Blaine."

"You told them?" Quinn asked

"Actually, they sort of told me," Rachel replied. "It was before I had figured it out and Kurt brought it up, but, again, I had no idea what he was talking about at the time. After you kissed me and were avoiding me, I talked with Kurt because I was confused and I knew he would be able to help me. I hope you're not mad."

Quinn shook her head. "I'm not mad."

"Good, because that wasn't my intent; I just wanted to be able to talk to someone," Rachel replied.

"It's fine, Rach," Quinn said, putting her hand over Rachel's. "I trust him and Blaine enough not to tell everyone."

Rachel left out the fact that Puck also knew because that would be too hard to explain to Quinn since she couldn't think of any logical reason for why she would have told him. Most people didn't even really think of her and Puck as friends, so confiding something like that wouldn't make much sense because she obviously couldn't tell the truth.

Rachel sighed and then leaned over, wrapping her arms around Quinn's neck. "Did I ever thank you for today? The song was very sweet."

"What makes you think I'm the secret admirer?" Quinn asked. "It could have been Finn or that creeper boy with the fro for all you know."

"Because you're the only one thoughtful enough to do something like that," Rachel replied.

Quinn laughed. "Fine, it was me."

Rachel smiled. "I know."

Rachel leaned forward and lightly brushed her lips against Quinn's; the blonde smiled, pulling her closer as she kissed her with more vigor. Quinn's hands were on her waist and Rachel's breath hitched when she felt them slip slightly under her shirt, touching her bare skin. The blonde's hands were soft and a nice departure from the guys she had been with.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, pulling back enough so they were looking into each other's eyes.

Rachel nodded. "I'm fine."

She leaned in again and reattached their lips; Quinn moaned, opening her mouth when Rachel ran her tongue along the blonde's lower lip. Rachel slipped her tongue inside and Quinn's tongue immediately met hers, sliding against each other, languidly exploring. Rachel's heart sped up every time Quinn's skillful tongue met hers and she was afraid Quinn could feel how fast it was beating.

They were sitting slightly awkwardly, so Quinn turned, putting her legs on the couch, and Rachel moved so she was straddling the blonde. Rachel was mostly sitting on the other girl's lap, but Quinn didn't seem to mind. In fact, Quinn pulled her even closer, so there was no space between them, and then started kissing Rachel's jaw and down her neck.

Rachel couldn't suppress a moan when Quinn reached a particularly sensitive spot on her neck and the blonde instantly noticed it. She felt the other girl's tongue gently run along the spot before attaching her lips to it, and sucking on the sensitive flesh. Rachel gripped Quinn's shoulders, not really knowing if she wanted to pull her closer or push her away. They had agreed to go slow, but straddling Quinn on her couch, as the girl sucked on her neck, while her parents were gone wasn't really her idea of slow, but she couldn't seem to find the willpower to push the blonde away.

"Quinn," Rachel said after a few more moments, but the other girl just mumbled incoherently. "Quinn!"

Quinn groaned as she pulled away. "What?"

"You're going to leave a mark," Rachel said, rubbing at her neck.

Quinn smirked. "Sorry."

Rachel playfully smacked Quinn on the shoulder. "That was your plan, wasn't it?"

"Maybe," Quinn said, laughing.

Quinn leaned up and pulled her into a long kiss; Rachel put her hands against the arm of the chair, on either side of Quinn's head, as the blonde leaned back. She felt Quinn's hands travel from her waist and up her sides, landing just below her bra. Luckily they were over her shirt because Rachel felt like she was having a hard enough time breathing as it was. Just as she felt Quinn's tongue flick out again, meeting hers, she heard a car door slam.

"I think my dads are home," Rachel said, bolting upright.

"Seriously?" Quinn said, sounding disappointed.

Rachel listened carefully and jumped off Quinn the moment she heard the keys jangling in the lock. Both girls tried straightening their clothes, making sure they were presentable, and Rachel jumped off the couch as soon as she heard her Daddy's voice.

"Hello again," Leroy said the moment he saw Quinn sitting on the couch.

"Hello, Mr. Berry," Quinn greeted.

"I told you to call me Leroy," he said, laughing.

"Sorry," Quinn said, smiling.

"You're home early," Rachel said, looking at the clock on the wall.

"You know us old people like to get into bed early," Hiram said, winking at his daughter. "Actually, the only movie we wanted to see was sold out, so we thought we would come home and watch a movie with our daughter."

Quinn cleared her throat and stood up. "I should be going."

"Nonsense," Hiram said. "You're more than welcome to stay for the movie."

"Thank you, but I really do need to get home," Quinn replied. "My mother is home and I feel bad about leaving her there all alone. I just wanted to bring Rachel something and I've already stayed longer than I had planned."

"Okay, but the offer always stands," Leroy said, smiling at her. "Anytime you want to come over and watch a movie or have dinner with us, just come over. We don't nearly get to see you enough"

"I will definitely keep that in mind," Quinn replied, receiving a hug from each of the Berry men.

Rachel smiled as she watched Quinn with her fathers; even after she had been married to Finn for years, they never quite warmed up to him. Quinn, however, they seemed to love—especially Leroy—and Rachel knew they would fully support their relationship when the time came.

"They're right, you know; you should come over more often," Rachel said as soon as they were at the door and out of earshot from her dads. "My fathers clearly adore you."

"Speaking of which, my mother has always asked when I plan on bringing you around again," Quinn said, laughing lightly.

"I guess I'm just good at charming the Fabray women," Rachel whispered.

Quinn smiled. "I guess so."

"I'll see you in the morning," Rachel said, sighing.

"Yes, you will," Quinn said, giving her a quick kiss.

She didn't close the door until Quinn was in her car and she could no longer see the tail lights from her car. When she finally did shut the door, she shook her head at herself.

"Are you going to join us?" Hiram called out to her.

"Yes, just a second," Rachel yelled back.

* * *

><p>As soon as Tina sat down, Rachel noticed she was staring at her, but she ignored it and went back to eating her salad. She thought maybe she was just being paranoid, but after she looked up for the third time and the other girl was still looking at her, she sighed and set her fork down.<p>

"Can I help you with something, Tina?" Rachel asked.

"Half the school is talking about you," Tina stated.

"Why are people talking about me?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"Because of yesterday," Tina replied. "Everyone wants to know who your secret admirer is. I wasn't there to see it, but I've heard from four different people about The God Squad singing that song to you."

"Oh," Rachel said, looking away.

"So, do you know who sent you the singing telegram?" Tina asked.

"Isn't the point of it being a secret admirer to be secret?" Rachel asked.

"That doesn't mean _you_ don't know who it is," Tina said, smiling. "A lot of people think it's Finn and that you two are finally going to reconcile."

"I can assure you, Tina, whether or not it was Finn, there is not going to be any reconciliation," Rachel firmly replied.

Tina smiled softly at her. "I know that and I'm glad, actually. Finn has always been sort of a jerk to you and I'm really happy you finally realized it; I never understood why you were with someone that treated you like that. I know he's popular, but I always thought you could do better than him."

"You're right," Rachel replied. "I can."

Mercedes walked up to the table and sat down to the right of Tina. "How are my two girls?"

"Hello, Mercedes," Rachel greeted. "I am very well, thank you."

"I'm trying to figure out who Rachel's secret admirer is," Tina said, glancing at Mercedes.

"I was wondering about that," Mercedes said, leaning forward. "So, who is it?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to remain silent on this one," Rachel replied.

"How did they place the request?" Tina asked the girl beside her.

"You'll have to ask Quinn," Mercedes replied. "She's the one that told us someone gave her the request. I asked her who it was yesterday when she told us about it, but she either didn't know or just didn't say."

"Hey, guys," Finn said, sitting next to Rachel just as Puck sat on the other side of her. "What's going on?"

"Just wondering who Rachel's secret admirer is," Mercedes replied.

"I don't get why they didn't have the guts to tell you who it was from," Finn said, shaking his milk. "Plus, that's kind of a lame gift to give someone."

"Yeah, what kind of pansy would send a girl a vocal Valentine," Puck said, nudging Rachel, and winking at her when she looked at him. "At least it wasn't something really lame like 'Stereo Hearts', though."

Rachel laughed while Mercedes and Tina looked at them strangely, and Finn frowned.

"Okay, since when did you two become friends?" Mercedes asked, looking between them.

"Noah and I figured out that we had more in common than we realized," Rachel replied.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked as he and Blaine joined the rest of the group at the table.

"Well, we were discussing Rachel's secret admirer, but then the conversation turned to Puck and Rachel's friendship," Mercedes answered.

"If she doesn't want you to know who the secret admirer is, why don't you leave her alone," Kurt said, narrowing his eyes at his friends.

"You know who it is!" Mercedes accused, pointing her finger at Kurt.

"Why don't we all talk about something else," Blaine said, and Rachel smiled at him, grateful he was trying to get the attention off of her.

"Yes, like Regionals coming up," Kurt said, raising his eyebrows

When the group finally started discussing something that wasn't her, Tina smiled apologetically and Rachel assumed it was for starting the whole discussion in the first place. As the rest of lunch went by, Rachel really missed Quinn being there, but the blonde had told her earlier that Santana wanted help with something during lunch, and Rachel didn't want to appear needy by asking to go with her. The last thing she wanted to do, though, was become too clingy and drive the other girl away.

* * *

><p>"Okay, guys, Regionals are in a week, so we really need to get our set list down," Mr. Schue said, standing in front of the group.<p>

"Mr. Schue," Rachel said, raising her hand.

"Can this wait til later, Rachel?" Mr. Schue asked. "Now—"

"Please, Mr. Schue," Rachel said, interrupting the teacher.

"What is it?" he asked, sighing.

"We think we have the perfect set list for Regionals," Rachel said, standing up from her seat. "We got together, as a group, and were able to agree on three songs. Mike came up with the theme; we want to do songs from the decade we were born in, so we picked three classic songs from the 90s. After some debate, we all agreed that Santana should be the one to get the solo, singing No Doubt's 'Don't Speak'. For our group number, we would like to sing the New Radicals' 'You Get What You Give', and for the duet, we agreed that Alanis Morissette's 'Head Over Feet' would be the perfect song, but we were unable to agree who should do the duet with me."

"And everyone agreed with this?" Mr. Schue asked and everyone nodded and murmured 'yeah', causing him to frown. "Well then, I guess we have our set list for Regionals."

"But who is going sing with Rachel?" Tina asked.

"Well, Finn and Rachel have proven to be great duet partners, so I think they should be the ones to do it," Mr. Schue replied.

Finn was smiling. "Thanks, Mr. Schue."

"Hold up," Puck said, raising his hand. "Finn and Rachel may have done okay in the past, but it was their kiss that made us bomb at Nationals last year. Rachel and Quinn killed it at Sectionals, so I think they should be the two to do it."

"I still say San and Rach should do it," Brittany added.

"Why would Rachel want to sing with a girl?" Finn asked. "I don't think it would be appropriate for her sing a song like that with Quinn or Santana. It should be one of the guys."

"If everyone is against Finn and Rachel singing it, then how about you, Puck?" Mr. Schue said, looking at the other boy.

Finn frowned. "Whoa, wait, Mr. Schue—"

"I don't get why Rachel automatically gets to be the one to sing it," Mercedes loudly said.

"Because she is our best singer and it would be stupid for us not to showcase that," Quinn stated.

"Okay, how about we put people's names in a hat and pick one," Mr. Schue said, walking toward one of the shelves where the infamous hat was sitting.

"Are we all putting our names in?" Sam asked.

"Just the names that have come up," Mr. Schue replied.

He started writing the names on a scrap piece of paper, ripped the names apart, and put them all in the hat. He shook them up and then held the hat in front of Rachel.

"There are four names in there: Puck, Quinn, Santana, and Finn," Mr. Schue said. "Am I forgetting anyone?" Everyone looked at each other and then shook their heads. "Okay then, pick one, Rachel."

Rachel put her hand in the hat, hoping to get anyone but Finn. When she pulled the piece of paper out, she closed her eyes, and opened it. She was afraid to see what the piece of paper said, but when she opened her eyes, she grinned happily.

"Quinn!" Rachel said.

"Let me see that," Finn said, grabbing the paper from her hand.

"Of course," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

"What are you complaining about? At least you get a solo," Mercedes said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, it's settled," Mr. Schue said, clapping his hands together. "Quinn and Rachel will perform our duet."

"What happened to not wanting to get in a rut?" Finn asked.

"You lost—get over it," Puck said to his friend.

Finn stood up, looming over Puck, but the mohawked boy just rose his eyebrow and looked away.

"What is with you lately?" Finn yelled.

"Dude, sit down and quit looking like a jackass," Puck replied.

Finn shoved Puck in the arm, knocking him out of his seat; Puck stood up and immediately got in Finn's face.

"Guys, break it up!" Mr. Schue yelled.

"Why, are you afraid Finn is going to hurt another chair?" Puck asked the teacher before turning back to face Finn. "I'm getting really sick of your crap. We've been friends for a long time, which is why I'm going to overlook what just happened, but this is the last time. Grow the hell up."

Finn clinched his fists and, for a moment, Rachel thought he was going to hit Puck; instead, he turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Well, I have to say, Glee is always interesting," Kurt said as Finn slammed the door behind him.

"I am slightly disappointed he didn't kick the chair on the way out, though," Artie added.

"Are all Americans this dramatic?" Rory asked, looking around the room.

"Okay, guys, I think we've had enough excitement for one day, so go home, get some rest, and on Monday we'll start working on our choreography," the teacher said, dismissing them.

"Congrats on getting to do another totally gay duet," Santana said as she walked by.

Rachel rolled her eyes, but then looked at Quinn. The song was rather suggestive and she was suddenly worried that the blonde might have a problem singing it with her in front of so many people.

"Quinn," Rachel said.

"Yeah?" Quinn asked, looking at her.

"No one really asked, but are you okay with doing the duet?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "It's just a song."

"I know but—"

"It's okay, Rach," Quinn said, putting her hand on Rachel's shoulder. "I'd rather it be me than Finn."

Rachel nodded and then frowned. "Why were Noah and Artie talking about Finn and chairs?"

Quinn laughed loudly. "You've never noticed?"

"Noticed what?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shook her head, smiling, and started walking toward the door.

"No, seriously, what?" Rachel asked.

* * *

><p><strong>The song used was Smile by Uncle Kracker.<strong>

**I know some of you wanted me to keep the original set list for Regionals, but it didn't make sense to me to do that since the Troubletones sang one song and, given her conversation with Quinn in the show, I didn't think it would make sense for Rachel to sing a song that would remind her of Finn. Plus, I just really didn't like the other song and I don't think they do nearly enough 90s songs on the show.**

**Thoughts? Comments? Reviews are always appreciated and keep the writer happy and motivated. **


	21. Revenge Is Sweeter

**Jules-Day: I know exactly what you mean and I'm still debating on what to do about him because it was a big moment for him and possibly one he needs to have happen to him even if it was terrible.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21 – Revenge Is Sweeter<strong>

"Dammit, Finn!" Santana yelled, drawing everyone's attention to her.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked.

"Apparently breaking Rachel's nose wasn't enough for Finnept," Santana said, holding her bleeding nose.

"I'm sorry," Finn said, putting his hand on her shoulder as he tried to look at the injured area. "It was an accident."

"Is it broken?" Rachel asked, pushing Finn aside to look at Santana's face.

"You tell me," Santana said, wincing when Rachel touched it.

"I don't think it is," Rachel said, still examining Santana's nose.

"I'm not dancing near the giant," Santana said, walking to the side of the room, and sitting down.

"Here," Quinn said, grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler, and tossing it to Santana.

Santana nodded her thanks as she touched the cold bottle of water to her nose; she winced when it made contact, but, thankfully, seemed otherwise okay.

"Finn, you really need to be more aware of your surroundings when you dance," Rachel said to the boy.

"It's not like I meant to do it," Finn replied.

"I didn't say you did," Rachel said. "I'm just asking you to be more careful. Regionals are in five days and we cannot afford to have our soloist get a broken nose. I know dancing is not your strong suit, but I'm begging you to be more careful, okay?"

Finn nodded. "Sorry."

"I think we should all take five and then regroup," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips.

Everyone murmured and dispersed; most walked over to the cooler to grab a bottle of water and rest, and a few just laid down on the spot. School had been over for nearly three hours, but the members of New Directions were still in the auditorium. Of course there was some complaining—mostly from Mercedes and Santana—but the majority agreed with Rachel. They needed to rehearse, with or without Mr. Schue, to make sure they won this thing.

Mike and Brittany had their heads together, talking about choreography; over the weekend, Rachel called them both to ask if they could start coming up with something, and they both happily agreed. They were both excited to do their parts and were doing a wonderful job teaching everyone. They were both patient—even with the people that were struggling—and Rachel could see exactly why Mike opened up a dance studio in the future.

Rachel sighed, looking around, and when she finally sat down, Quinn walked over, rubbing her eyes. It was clear everyone was getting tired and Rachel was probably going to have to call it a night soon.

"I can't wait to go home and take a nice, hot bath," Quinn said, sitting on the floor, next to Rachel.

Rachel laughed lightly. "It's not _that_ bad."

"I smell," Quinn said, wrinkling her nose.

"You don't smell," Rachel replied, rolling her eyes. "Are you still coming over tonight to work on vocals?"

"Are you actually giving me a choice?" Quinn asked, smirking.

"No," Rachel replied, smiling.

Quinn laughed. "Then yes, I will be there."

"Good," Rachel said.

"How long do you think it will take Finn before he finally gets that move down?" Quinn asked, looking across the stage at the tall boy.

Rachel sighed. "Hopefully not too long, but I fear that I sometimes have too much faith in people."

"At least he's trying." Quinn glanced at Mercedes and rolled her eyes. "Unlike some people."

"I don't understand Mercedes," Rachel whispered, shaking her head. "She complains about not getting any solos, but she doesn't actually work for it. She's good, but she could be a lot better if she put more effort into it. I want to trounce those Warblers and I need to find a way to motivate everyone to be their best."

Quinn looked at Rachel with her eyebrow cocked. "I understand wanting to win, but this seems more personal."

"I just don't like them very much," Rachel said, scowling.

The truth is, Sebastian Smythe was one of the only people in the world that she didn't like. She had forgiven him for the incident with Blaine and trying to blackmail her, but there was only so much she could forgive. When Kurt went to NYADA, Blaine cheated on him with the Warbler. As far as she knew, they only kissed, but it was one of the things that finally drove Kurt and Blaine to break up. She knew Blaine was partially at fault, but she blamed Sebastian more for the whole thing.

Blaine had called her, confessing what happened, and that he was coming to New York to apologize to Kurt in person. She could tell he was sincerely sorry and it was a moment of weakness for him; Blaine had been fairly down since Kurt left and Sebastian capitalized on it. Before Blaine made it to New York, though, Sebastian sent a message to Kurt, telling him about the kiss. It was just another one of his games, and it took Kurt and Blaine years to find their way back to one another.

"As much as I hate to say it, I think our five minutes are up," Quinn said, sighing.

Rachel looked at the time on her phone and nodded. "Alright, guys, let's go through the whole routine twice more and then we'll call it a night."

* * *

><p>"Are you going to Puck's party on Saturday?" Kurt asked, taking a sip of his drink.<p>

Rachel shrugged. "I think I might skip this one."

"Even if we win?" Kurt asked.

"I think you mean _when_ we win," Rachel corrected. "We haven't all been working so hard to lose now."

"Do you think we'll be ready?" Kurt asked.

"Of course," Rachel replied.

"It's only two days away," Kurt reminded her. "And Finn is still flailing his arms into everyone, Sam and Rory still keep forgetting the steps in the middle of the routine, and Sugar still won't stop trying to get in front of everyone."

Rachel sighed. "I know, but I have faith that we will all be perfect by Friday. Everyone has their vocals down, we just need to polish up the dancing a bit more and no one will stand a chance against us."

"What about a celebration sleepover?" Kurt asked. "Just me, you, and some of the other girls. Of course we would have to do it at your place, though, since Finn and Sam are at mine, but it could be fun—and maybe the power won't go out this time."

Rachel laughed lightly. "We could do that."

"Good," Kurt said, tapping her hand.

As it got closer to the end of the year, Rachel felt less and less like going to Puck's parties. They were a constant reminder of what happened in the past and she couldn't bear the thought of losing Quinn. The blonde was just so much in her life now and it was hard to imagine her not being there. In the beginning, it was all she thought about when she saw Quinn, but now, she rarely thought about it; however, every time she was at Puck's house, it all came crashing back. She had asked Puck several times why he still had the parties knowing what happened in the past, but he always shrugged her off.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Oh no—what is _he_ doing here?"

Rachel looked over her shoulder at Sebastian, who had just entered the coffee shop; as usual, he was smirking, and immediately walked over to Kurt and Rachel when he saw them.

"Look who's here!" he said with a fake smile.

"What do you want?" Rachel asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"I just wanted to say good luck on Saturday," he replied. "Without you competing, your little New Directions won't stand a chance against us."

Rachel rolled her eyes. He tried to do this once before; it didn't work then and it wasn't going to work now. Plus, what could he possibly have on her to blackmail her? Last time he tried using those ridiculous photoshopped pictures of Finn, but she wasn't with him now.

"Why wouldn't I compete?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"Because if you do, I'm going to tell your whole school about you and your little girlfriend," Sebastian said, smirking.

Rachel felt all the blood drain from her face. "What?"

"I saw you two on your little date," Sebastian replied. "It was very cute, by the way, and nice touch leaving town, but you might want to take a look around every once in a while to make sure there's no one standing around, taking pictures of you two." Sebastian removed his hands from behind his back and threw an envelope to Rachel. "Now, if you two had to leave town to go on your date, you obviously want to keep this a secret, and it will stay one if you drop out of the competition. Otherwise, these pictures are going to be plastered all over your school." Sebastian smiled smugly as he straightened his jacket. "Have a nice day."

Rachel was staring blankly at the envelope, but Kurt reached out and grabbed it, pulling out the photographs. She glanced at the pictures and saw that, this time, they were very much not photoshopped.

Kurt quickly stuffed the pictures back inside and sighed. "What are you going to do?"

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know, but I have to go find Quinn right now."

Rachel grabbed the envelope from Kurt's hands and hurried out of the coffee shop. She heard Kurt call her name, but she didn't bother turning around. Right now, she just needed to find Quinn and let her know what was going on.

* * *

><p>Santana was the first person she ran into when she walked into the school; the other girl was walking along the hall, but Rachel quickly grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.<p>

"Where's Quinn?" Rachel asked.

"Geez, Berry," Santana said, pulling her arm away. "Don't sound so desperate."

"Santana, I need to find Quinn right now," Rachel replied. "This is serious."

"I think she's in the choir room," Santana finally answered. "What are you—hey, wait up!"

Rachel practically ran to the choir room, and Santana wasn't very far behind her. When she walked in, she took a deep breath, and then walked toward Quinn. The blonde was at the piano, with her back to the door, so she didn't immediately notice Rachel until the brunette was beside her.

"Hey, Rach," Quinn said, smiling up at her.

"Can we talk?" Rachel asked.

Quinn's smile turned into a frown as she watched Rachel. "What's wrong?"

Rachel looked back at Santana and sighed. "Do you remember Sebastian? He's one of the Warblers—the one that Kurt keeps saying is after Blaine."

"Yeah," Quinn said, her brows furrowing even more.

"What does he have to do with anything?" Santana asked.

"He's trying to blackmail me," Rachel stated. "He wants me to drop out of the competition this Saturday because he thinks it will ensure the Warblers winning."

"How is he blackmailing you?" Quinn asked.

Santana walked forward and quickly grabbed the envelope from Rachel's hand. When she opened it and pulled out the pictures, her eyes widened.

"That bastard!" Santana yelled.

"Let me see," Quinn said, grabbing for the picture, but Santana pulled it out of her reach. "Santana, give that to me right now!"

"Quinn, he took pictures of us," Rachel said, barely above a whisper.

Quinn stopped fighting with Santana, and turned to Rachel. "What do you mean?"

"On our date," Rachel replied. "Apparently he was around and he took pictures." She was avoiding Quinn's eyes; she was afraid to see the look on the blonde's face. "He didn't get any photos of us kissing, but it's more than enough to get people talking. He says if I don't drop out, he'll make copies and put them around the school."

"Santana, give me the damn pictures," Quinn said through gritted teeth.

Santana still seemed reluctant, but handed the pictures to the blonde. When Quinn flipped through them, she seemed to turn paler and paler with each photo. After getting to the last picture, she stood motionless; Rachel was afraid to say anything and it seemed like Santana was as well. Eventually, Quinn dropped the pictures to the ground and turned, walking out of the room.

"Quinn!" Rachel yelled, trying to go after her.

"Don't," Quinn replied, not turning around.

"But—"

"Give her some time," Santana said, catching Rachel around the waist, stopping her from going after the blonde.

"But I need to—"

"You need to let her be alone right now," Santana said, cutting her off again. "She's scared and she's only going to end up hurting you if you go after her. She needs time to think about this, so let her come to you."

Rachel shook her head and tears were forming in her eyes. "This is all my fault."

"This isn't your fault," Santana softly said. "It's that boy band reject's fault. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to Dalton and I'm going to kick his skinny, white boy ass, and once I'm done with him, he'll be lucky if he can perform at Regionals without crutches."

"Santana, you can't," Rachel said, grabbing her arm to stop her.

"Give me one good reason why I can't," Santana said, crossing her arms.

"Because his father is a State's Attorney," Rachel replied.

Santana rolled her eyes and sighed. "Dammit."

"Exactly," Rachel said. "You can't touch him."

"What are we going to do, then?" Santana asked.

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know if there is anything we can do."

* * *

><p>"Have you heard from her?"<p>

Rachel sighed as she turned to look at Santana. "No."

Santana narrowed her eyes. "You tried calling her, didn't you?"

"Maybe," Rachel said, avoiding eye contact.

"Do you ever listen to a damn word I say?" Santana asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "I just—I wanted to see if she was okay."

"She didn't answer, did she?" Santana asked.

Rachel sighed. "No, it went straight to voicemail."

"What are you going to do?" Santana asked, looking uncharacteristically concerned.

"I guess that's up to Quinn," Rachel said, shrugging. "That's why I really need to get her to talk to me; Regionals are tomorrow, so time is quickly running out."

"Me and Britt started rehearsing 'Head Over Feet' last night," Santana stated. "Just in case, you know? I don't know what you plan to do or whether or not Q's gonna want to do it without you, but if you have to drop out to protect Quinn, we'll still have a duet. And believe me, if I can't kick his ass, I will do everything I can to wipe the smirk off his face. Britt doesn't know what's going on, but I asked her, so she's doing it." Santana shrugged. "Do what you have to do. Just worry about you and Q, and I'll make sure we kick some Warbler ass at Regionals."

Rachel smiled and wrapped her arms around Santana's neck, hugging her tightly; it was nice to know she actually had such a good friend in Santana Lopez. It was a little hard to believe sometimes and it was something she thought would never happen, but here they were. Santana was ready to step up and hold the Glee club together if she needed to, and Rachel didn't even ask her to do it.

"Okay, okay," Santana said, trying to push her off.

"Thank you, Santana," Rachel said, still not letting go. "You're a lot nicer than people give you credit for."

"Take that back right now!" Santana said, finally pushing her away, scowling.

Rachel smiled. "No, it's true."

"Get away from me, Berry," Santana said, huffing as she turned around, and quickly walked away.

Rachel just shook her head and went off in search of Quinn. She checked the bathroom they always seemed to end up in since it was on the way, and then went to the choir room, but she wasn't in either. She went to the auditorium and was about to leave when she noticed Quinn sitting at the very front of the room, off to the side.

She walked down the aisle, toward the blonde, who never looked up. Rachel stood there for a few moments, watching her; eventually she sighed and took a seat, leaving a few spaces between them.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

"Wonderful," Quinn sarcastically replied.

"Quinn—"

"I really don't feel like talking right now, Rachel," Quinn interrupted.

Rachel sighed. "I understand that, but we're running out of time. Regionals are in a day and we need to let the rest of Glee know what's going on."

"You want to tell them?" Quinn asked.

"Not everything—just about Sebastian," Rachel replied. "They don't have to know what it's over; I can simply say he's blackmailing me. I'm asking you to still do the duet with me, though." For the first time since coming into the auditorium, Quinn finally looked at Rachel. "But if you ask me to, I'll drop out. Santana's already prepared to do the duet with you or Brittany tomorrow if she needs to. Please, just think about it, okay? I know you're not ready to come out to the entire school, which is why I'm willing to drop out, but I still want you to think about it. Can you let me know your decision by the end of the day, though? I need to know whether or not I'm performing tomorrow." Rachel sighed and shook her head. "I'm really sorry about all of this, Quinn."

Quinn nodded, but didn't say anything, so Rachel stood up from her seat. She started walking up the aisle, and was halfway across the auditorium when Quinn's voice stopped her.

"It's not your fault," Quinn stated. "I don't blame you, so don't apologize for it."

Rachel smiled sadly. "I'll see you later?"

Quinn nodded and Rachel turned around, leaving the auditorium.

* * *

><p>"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, watching Rachel in concern.<p>

Rachel nodded and tried to smile. "I'm just worried."

Kurt wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "We won't let him win."

"For once, Kurt, I'm not worried about winning the competition," Rachel replied. "I'm more worried about Quinn; I don't want this to scare her off."

"Wow, Rachel Berry doesn't care about winning Regionals? I think that's the first sign of the apocalypse," Kurt said, smiling, and squeezing her shoulder.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

Kurt shrugged. "I hate seeing you like this. You're putting too much stress on yourself and that's very bad for your complexion."

Rachel shook her head but cracked a smile. "You—"

"Hey."

Kurt and Rachel both turned around to find Quinn standing behind them. Rachel sighed, knowing she had probably made her decision, and she was afraid to know what the blonde had decided. She didn't want to drop out of the completion, but she wasn't going to be the one to make that decision. Everyone finding out she had been on a date with Quinn wouldn't really matter to her, but she knew it did to the other girl.

"Hi, Quinn," Kurt greeted.

"Can I talk to Rachel," Quinn said, glancing at Kurt.

Kurt nodded and then turned to Rachel and whispered, "Good luck."

Quinn watched Kurt leave for a moment and then turned to Rachel. "I will still do the duet."

"With Santana?" Rachel asked.

"No—with you," Quinn replied.

Rachel nodded. "Are you sure?"

"I don't want Sebastian to win," Quinn said, shrugging. "And I don't just mean win Regionals; I don't want him to think he can blackmail us or push us around."

"What are you going to do if he follows through on his threat?" Rachel asked.

"I'm not sure," Quinn replied. "I guess we'll figure that out if the time comes."

"You don't have to do this," Rachel stated.

Quinn sighed. "I know."

"Are we okay?" Rachel asked, fidgeting with her hands.

Quinn looked at Rachel for a moment and then walked up to her, wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist, and pulling her into a hug. Rachel sighed in relief at being in Quinn's arms and rested her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"I want you to know I was never angry with you," Quinn stated. "I just—I'm not ready for everyone to know. I'm still figuring my life out and I don't want the entire school talking about it—talking about me. If it happens, though—well, I guess I've gone through worse."

"I was afraid this would make you change your mind," Rachel admitted. "I was afraid we would be over before we really had a chance to start."

Quinn pulled back a bit, looked down at Rachel, and smiled. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Good," Rachel said, smiling back.

Quinn suddenly looked serious again. "My mother is coming tomorrow."

"Really?" Rachel asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

Quinn nodded. "She took the day off from work."

"I—she's going to see our duet!" Rachel said, pulling away. "Maybe we should have picked a different song; 'Head Over Feet' will be a wonderful duet, but it is a bit forward. What is your mom going to think when she's sees us singing it?"

"She'll think my name was drawn out of a hat," Quinn said. "Because that's what I told her. She knows we agreed on the song and that you were going to sing it. I told her how Mr. Schue picked your partner and that it just happened to be me."

"And it's all true, so you didn't even have to lie to her," Rachel replied.

"Exactly," Quinn said, smiling. "Hopefully she won't realize a thing."

"I guess I should let Santana know she can stop rehearsing my part," Rachel said, smiling.

"I already told her," Quinn said, shrugging. "I ran into her on the way here and she yelled at me a bit for wasting her time."

"It sounds like our Santana is back." Rachel shook her head. "It's been a little unnerving how concerned she has been the last day."

* * *

><p>Santana sighed loudly. "Sit your ass down, Q."<p>

Quinn turned her head to glare at her friend, but continued walking around the room.

Santana narrowed her eyes. "Okay, that's it."

Santana jumped out of her seat, wrapped her arms around Quinn, and pulled her onto the couch, holding her in place. Quinn struggled against her as Rachel and Kurt watched on in amusement.

"Santana, let me go," Quinn demanded.

"What the hell is with you?" Santana asked, scowling. "When did Quinn Fabray start getting nervous before competitions?"

"It's different this time and you know it," Quinn said, staring at Santana.

"Does anyone know where Puck is?" Mr. Schue asked, looking around the room.

"He left a while ago," Sam answered.

Mr. Schue frowned, looking concerned. "Do you know where he went? We have five minutes until we need to take our seats."

"He didn't say," Sam replied with a shrug.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom?" Mike suggested.

Just then, Puck walked through the door, and looked around at everyone staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Mr. Schue was looking for you," Tina answered.

"I'm here," Puck said.

"I can see that," Mr. Schue said with a laugh. "Alright, guys, five minutes until the show starts!"

Sam let out a whoop and several others cheered; there was a nervous but excited chatter throughout the room. Rachel watched as Puck slipped away, nodding at her to follow; she frowned but followed Puck out of the room, stopping just outside the door.

"What is it?" Rachel asked.

"I just wanted to let you know I had a little chat with that jackass that's trying to blackmail you and Quinn," Puck said, shrugging his shoulder.

"Noah, what did you do?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms.

"Relax," Puck said, looking down the hall. "I didn't hurt him or anything—although he deserves someone to beat his scrawny ass."

"So—"

"So you forget that I've lived in Lima my entire life," Puck stated. "People in Lima like to gossip and I might have heard a few things over the years about the Smythe family that Sebastian won't want spread around."

"You blackmailed him?" Rachel said, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course," Puck replied. "No one messes with my Jew and my baby mama. Let Q know that she has nothing to worry about; he isn't going to show anyone those pictures anytime soon unless he wants the world to know his secrets as well."

"Thank you, Noah," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around Puck.

"Don't mention it," Puck said, smirking.

Rachel walked into the room and smiled at Quinn, who was watching her; Puck was right behind her and nudged her toward the blonde. Rachel gave his arm a squeeze and then walked toward Quinn, who seemed to have finally been released from Santana's grasp since the brunette was now across the room, talking to Brittany.

"You don't have to worry any longer," Rachel said as soon as she was in front of the other girl.

"About what?" Quinn asked.

"Sebastian isn't going to do anything," Rachel stated. "Noah made sure of it."

"Why did Puck know?" Quinn asked, frowning at her.

"Noah and I are friends and I confided in him that I was being blackmailed," Rachel replied. "I don't know the exact details, but I know Sebastian isn't going to follow through with his threat, so there is no need to worry."

Quinn closed her eyes and a smile spread across her face. "Thank God."

Rachel smoothed down her dress and sat next to Quinn. "Now we need to focus on destroying him, and then we can celebrate with lots of ice cream and pizza tonight."

Quinn smiled. "I'm fairly certain my mother has already cleaned the entire house twice. I think she's a little excited about it." Quinn put her hand on Rachel's for a moment. "Thank you for agreeing to have it at my house."

Rachel shrugged. "I like your mom and I knew it would mean a lot to her to have your friends over. Now, though, it can be less about commiserating our impending outing and more about celebrating with our friends."

"Okay, guys, it's time to take our seats!" Mr. Schue announced.

Rachel smiled and squeezed Quinn's hand as they both stood up. "Time to show Sebastian that he messed with the wrong people."

* * *

><p>Rachel knocked on the door and it immediately swung open; before she could get out a greeting, Brittany had her in a tight hug. Rachel just laughed and hugged the blonde back.<p>

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said.

"Hey, Rach," Brittany said, releasing Rachel, and smiling. "I'm so happy; I haven't been to a sleepover at Quinn's in forever!"

"That's because we're too old for this," Santana said as she walked by.

Brittany frowned. "That's not true."

"No, it's not," Rachel agreed. "You're never too old to spend time with your friends."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Shouldn't you be in a better mood?" Rachel asked.

"She's just grumpy she isn't at Puck's party," Brittany replied. "I told her she didn't have to come with me."

"I'm not grumpy," Santana said, huffing.

Brittany tilted her head and then walked to Santana, kissing her forehead. "I promise I'll make it up to you tonight."

"Okay!" Rachel said, afraid of what that might mean. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some water."

Rachel walked to the kitchen where Judy was sitting at the island with a book open in front of her. As soon as she entered, the older woman looked up and smiled at her.

"Hello," Rachel greeted.

Judy stood up and gave Rachel a hug, surprising the brunette. "I'm proud of you."

Rachel pulled back. "For what?"

"You did wonderful today," Judy said, squeezing Rachel's shoulder.

Rachel blushed, ducking her head. "Thank you."

"I told Quinn how amazing you both were and she said it was your doing," Judy stated.

Rachel shook her head. "She doesn't give herself enough credit.

"Well, either way, congratulations," Judy said, smiling. "I bet you're excited to go to Nationals again."

"You have no idea," Rachel said, smiling back.

"Well, Quinn is upstairs if you were looking for her," Judy said.

"Actually, I came to get some water," Rachel replied.

"Help yourself, there are bottles in the refrigerator," Judy said, pointing toward it.

"Thank you," Rachel said, walking over to the refrigerator and grabbing a bottle out.

"I hope you girls have fun," Judy said, closing her book, and grabbing her purse from the stool next to her. "I am going to do something I haven't done in a long time; I'm actually going to the theater to watch a movie."

Rachel laughed. "Have a wonderful time."

Rachel smiled at Judy one last time and then left the kitchen, walking past the den, where Santana and Brittany were, and up the stairs. She walked to Quinn's bedroom and knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in," Quinn yelled.

Rachel opened the door and poked her head inside; Quinn was alone and smiled the moment she saw her.

"Hey," Quinn greeted.

"I thought everyone would already be here," Rachel commented.

"Kurt sent me a text saying he and Tina would be late," Quinn replied. "Who knows where Brittany and Santana went."

"They're in the den," Rachel said. "And your mom just left."

Quinn nodded and took a few steps toward Rachel. "She said she was going out tonight."

Rachel held her hand out to the blonde, who took it, pulling her closer. "Are you okay?"

Quinn smiled. "Well, we won Regionals, I'm spending the night with my friends, and I no longer have to worry about Sebastian—yeah, I'm doing pretty okay."

"Just making sure," Rachel said, smiling back.

Quinn pulled Rachel the rest of the way toward her and put her hand on the brunette's check. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment before Quinn finally leaned down, lightly brushing her lips against Rachel's. Not satisfied with so little contact, Rachel wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck, kissing her more fervently. When they pulled apart, Quinn looked toward the door, her eyes widening.

"What?" Rachel asked, turning around.

"S-Sorry," Tina stuttered out.

"Yeah, sorry; we didn't know you two would be making out up here," Santana said, pushing her way into the room.

"We were not making out!" Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips.

"But you were kissing," Tina said, looking confused.

"Quinn and Rach are totally into each other," Brittany said, grinning.

"I—" Tina shook her head. "Were you the secret admirer?"

"Of course she was," Santana answered. "She just didn't have the balls to tell everyone it was her sending the song to Berry. You know, for it to be such a huge secret, you both really suck at hiding it."

Rachel sighed. "Half the Glee club does seem to know now, don't they?"

"Well, if you didn't make out in rooms that anyone could come into—"

"We were not making out," Rachel repeated.

"Whatever," Santana said, waving her off.

"Tina, can you please not tell anyone?" Rachel asked.

Tina nodded. "Sure."

Rachel heard buzzing and Santana pulled out her phone, looked at the display, and then left the room.

"So, are we going to order pizza because I'm starving," Kurt said, finally speaking.

"They're already on their way," Quinn quietly said.

"Oh," Kurt said, nodding.

Santana walked back in the room and whispered into Brittany's ear before turning to everyone else and saying, "I gots to go do something; I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" Quinn asked, narrowing her eyes.

"None of your damn business, Fabray" Santana replied, walking away.

Quinn rolled her eyes and turned to Rachel. "It always scares me when she refuses to tell people where she's going.

"I guess we will just have to start a movie without her," Kurt said, pulling off his coat, and tossing it on the back of a chair. "All in favor of horror movies, raise your hand."

Brittany, Tina, Kurt, and Quinn all raised their hands, leaving Rachel the odd one out.

"That is so not fair," Rachel said, huffing.

"Sorry, sweetie," Kurt replied, rubbing her arm.

"You have Quinn to cuddle with," Brittany pointed out.

Tina shook her head. "That is so weird to hear."

"It might seem weird at first, but they're actually quite cute together," Kurt said, causing Quinn and Rachel to both blushed.

"How long have you two been going out?" Tina asked.

"We'll we're not exactly official yet," Rachel replied.

"We're taking things slow," Quinn added.

Kurt snorted and then covered his face with his hand. "Sorry."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Can we start the damn movie?"

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I guess I'll finally put my question at the end of this chapter. First of all, as I have it planned, this story will be 34 chapters, so there's still a ways to go, but I do want your alls opinion. Would you rather this story end in a way that isn't necessarily happy or wrapped up, but it would definitely have a sequel or would you rather it end completely wrapped up and may or may not have a sequel sometime in the future. Obviously I'll ultimately make the decision, but I still want to know what you guys think. Also, keep in mind that even if I didn't do a sequel to this, I'll still be writing Faberry since I'm currently fighting with myself to not start two new stories that I really want to write. I know writing four at once will be a disaster, though—as seen by the fact that I still have three unfinished Naomily ones.<strong>

**Oh and classes start back Monday; I'm going to try to keep up with my schedule of updating every Tuesday, but I make no guarantees. I'll probably be able to tell more once they start and I see how time consuming they're going to be.**

**Please take a second to leave your reviews, thoughts, opinions, etc.**


	22. Stupid Little Love Song

**Nearly everyone asked for this story to be wrapped up in the end, so I guess I'll be doing that. I always knew I had two **_**very**_** different routes I could go with this in the end and you guys would be the deciding factor. So, this will be a standalone story instead of basically being a two part story.**

**Keki186: I'm happy you finally found the time to read this and thank you for the lovely comment.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22 – Stupid Little Love Song<strong>

Rachel looked out, over the football field; she was waiting on Quinn to get there, but the other girl was late. She would normally worry, but Quinn sent her a text saying her alarm didn't go off, so she got a late start. Rachel was grateful for the text, but suspected it had to do with the freak out she had when Quinn was late once before. She tried not to worry so much, but it was hard sometimes. Her mind would flashback to seeing Quinn's broken body as it was pulled from her car, and she could feel her chest tighten as she started panicking at the thought of something happening to her again.

"Why are you out here every Monday morning?" Finn asked, appearing out of nowhere, and interrupting Rachel's thoughts

She looked up, surprised to see the boy out here again. "I like it out here."

"You didn't used to," Finn replied.

Rachel sighed. "Things change, Finn."

"Don't you think I know that?" Finn asked, clenching his jaw

"What are you doing out here?" Rachel asked, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked at Finn.

"I wanted to talk to you," Finn answered.

Rachel really didn't care anymore about what Finn wanted to talk about but still asked, "About what?"

"Quinn," Finn replied.

"What about Quinn?" Rachel asked, feeling herself get more and more annoyed.

"I know you like to think everyone is good or whatever, but she's using you," Finn stated.

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Using me? How is she using me, Finn?"

"She likes you," Finn replied, wiping any remnants of a smile off Rachel's face.

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked.

"She likes you," Finn repeated. "I know it sounds weird, but that's why she's always hanging around you and why she did everything to push us apart. She wants you for herself and she's always been jealous of what we have."

"Had," Rachel corrected.

"Whatever, Rach, I'm telling you the truth," Finn replied. "I doubt you see it because you always want to think people are good or whatever, but she's lying to you."

Rachel stood up, crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes at him. "Finn Hudson, whether or not this is true, it wouldn't be any business of yours. Quinn and I are friends; did you really think you would say this and I would what—want to be with you again?"

She glowered at her one last time and stomped down the bleachers, going anywhere that wasn't near him. She pulled out her phone and immediately sent a text to Quinn asking her to meet her in the auditorium.

"Rach, wait!" Finn yelled after her.

"Finn, I am going to ask you as politely as I can to please stay away from me," Rachel said, not bothering to stop as she addressed him. "And Quinn, for that matter."

"I don't want you to get hurt by her," Finn said, still following after her.

Rachel rounded on him, stopping him in his tracks. "I am a big girl, Finn, and I can take care of myself."

She turned on her heel and hurried toward the school. Thankfully, Finn stopped following her, so Rachel was able to walk into the auditorium without him following her inside. She walked to the stage, still seething that Finn would dare pull this again, but she also wondered how the hell he knew. She didn't think he was nearly perceptive enough to figure it out, but she also knew none of her friends would have told him, so maybe she underestimated his observation skills.

"Why are we meeting in here?" Quinn asked.

Rachel jumped, unaware that Quinn had entered; she looked at the blonde and rolled her eyes in a show of annoyance. "Finn was out there."

Quinn rolled her eyes as well and walked the rest of the way onto the stage. "What did he want?"

"To inform me that you're using me and that you—Quinn, he told me that you like me," Rachel said, frowning. "I don't know how he knows or if he really knows; maybe he just happened to guess something correctly for once in his life."

Quinn sighed and looked down. "He knows."

Rachel's jaw dropped. "How?"

"I don't know," Quinn said, shrugging. "He's known for a while, though."

"How do you know?" Rachel asked.

"Do you remember that time at Breadstix?" Quinn asked. "It was when the group was there after opening night for West Side Story and Finn stormed out?"

"Yeah?" Rachel said, unsure where Quinn was going with this.

"Do you remember him saying something to me before he left?" Quinn asked. "At the time, you asked me what he said, but I told you it wasn't anything important."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"He told me you'll never be mine," Quinn said, shaking her head. "That's why I was so weird when we were working on that mash-up. Finn's words scared the crap out of me and I started trying to push you away. Don't ask me how he knew, because I have no idea, but he figured it out before anyone else."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rachel asked, closing the distance between them.

"Obviously, I couldn't at the time," Quinn said, shrugging. "And since then—I don't know. He's never said anything else to me about it, so I just never brought it up."

Rachel sighed and then leaned up, giving Quinn a kiss on the cheek. "He was wrong, you know?"

Quinn smiled. "Maybe one day I can rub that in his face."

Rachel laughed so loud that it echoed around the auditorium. "Maybe."

* * *

><p>"Alright guys, first off, I would like to congratulate everyone again for our win at Regionals." He paused and smiled as everyone clapped and cheered. "Now, Principal Figgins was contacted by the police this morning; Sebastian Smythe's house was vandalized in an apparent prank Friday night. Do any of you know anything about that?"<p>

There were a lot of murmurs and head shaking; Rachel frowned and immediately looked over her shoulder, at Puck. He was shaking his head, but had a slight smirk on his face.

"Noah!" Rachel whispered.

"What?" Puck asked, shrugging his shoulders, and trying to look innocent.

Rachel narrowed her eyes as she turned to look at Santana.

Quinn leaned toward Rachel and whispered, "Are you okay?"

"I suspect several of our friends had something to do with the vandalism," Rachel whispered back.

Quinn glanced at Puck and then Santana. "I guess that explains what I thought was whipped cream in her hair when she came back after disappearing. I wondered about it, but I was honestly afraid to ask."

"Why would they do that?" Rachel asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Quinn said, tilting her head.

"What?" Rachel asked.

"What do you think?" Quinn said, laughing lightly. "They were doing it to protect you—to get back at him for you."

"Wouldn't it be for us?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "Maybe for Santana, but Puck didn't know, right?"

"Right," Rachel said, looking away.

"Okay, I told Principal Figgins I would talk to you, but if you say you didn't have anything to do with it, then I believe you," Mr. Schue said. "Next on our agenda is this week's assignment. So far this year we have performed music in honor of Santana, and I thought we could do that again this week for one of our newer members." He walked to the board and wrote 'Ireland' on it. "This week's assignment is to perform songs from Irish musical artists. This can be our way of bring a little of Ireland to Rory."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue," Rory said, smiling.

"You can work in pairs, groups, or do it solo, but I would like to see something from everyone," Mr. Schue added. "I know winning Regionals is exciting, but now is not the time to slack off. Nationals may seem far away, but these next three months will fly by and next thing you'll know, you'll be on that stage again."

"Watch this," Rachel whispered to Quinn. "Mr. Schue."

He looked at her, with her hand raised, and sighed. "Yes, Rachel?"

"I completely agree with you; Nationals are just around the corner and now is not the time to rest," Rachel said, putting her hand down. "That's why I think we should start working on our Nationals set list and spend the next twelve weeks coming up with the best performances we can think of."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Mr. Schue replied.

"But you just said Nationals will be here before we know it," Rachel reminded him.

"I know that, but we have time," Mr. Schue said, smiling.

"You know what, Mr. Schue," Santana said, standing up. "No disrespect, but don't you think maybe you should listen to Rachel? I bet Vocal Adrenaline are rehearsing for Nationals right now. Last year we went to New York without a set list, without a routine, and without any idea what the hell we were doing. We completely wasted our chance at winning Nationals and I don't know about everyone else, but I don't want that to happen again this year."

"Santana—"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Schue, but she's right and so is Rachel," Artie interrupted. "We ruined out chances last year by believing we could go to New York and basically wing it, but I want to win this year and show the idiots at this school that we're not just a bunch of losers that sing and dance. I want to bring that trophy through the front doors and show them just how far we've come."

"Ok, calm down, guys," Mr. Schue said, motioning for Santana to sit down. "I know everyone is excited to go to Nationals again, but we do have time. I promise we'll have plenty of time to come up with our set list and practice. Okay, you all have your assignment for the week, so I would like you take spend the remaining time working on it."

Santana rolled her eyes as she stood up and walked toward Rachel. "If he doesn't start working on our Nationals set list in the next few weeks, we're all coming over to your house again."

Rachel nodded and then frowned when Quinn laughed lightly. "What?"

"I think you're turning the whole group against Mr. Schue," Quinn said.

Rachel shrugged. "Maybe if he wasn't trying to sabotage our chances of winning, I might feel bad about that."

* * *

><p>"She really did that?" Rachel asked, laughing.<p>

"It's Santana, of course she did," Quinn replied.

"But he's so—" Rachel shuddered. "I don't care if someone said my life depended on it, there's no way I would ever kiss Jacob."

"I'm telling you, she won't back down from a dare," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Believe me, I wish she did; I have been traumatized on several occasions because of the dares Puck has come up with."

"Maybe next time someone should dare her to be nice for a week," Rachel said, smiling.

"I'm sure Puck will have one of his parties soon," Quinn said, shrugging.

Rachel frowned for a moment and then put a smile back on her face. "I think I've had enough of Puck's parties for right now."

Quinn studied her for a moment but nodded. "Well, maybe my mother will let us have a party at my house; you know, nothing big, but maybe us in Glee."

"Are you sure you want to have to clean the house again?" Rachel joked.

Quinn paused. "On second thought, maybe not."

Rachel laughed as Quinn pulled into her driveway; Quinn got out of the car first and ran around to Rachel's side, opening the door for her. The brunette smiled and felt herself blushing lightly; it was strange to her that the biggest gentleman she had even been on a date with was a girl. Quinn planned their second date; it was nothing fancy—dinner and movie—but Rachel had a wonderful time. The blonde had found a theater a few towns over that played old movies, so they watched 'Roman Holiday' after eating at a small, Italian restaurant.

As they walked down the walkway, Quinn took Rachel's hand and the brunette smiled to herself. She was happy the other girl didn't let Sebastian get to her or scare her off in any way.

When Quinn stopped at the door, she leaned in gently kissing Rachel's lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You know, if you want to, you could come in for a little while," Rachel said, tugging on Quinn's hand.

"Won't your fathers wonder why I'm bringing you home so late?" Quinn asked.

"They're not here," Rachel replied. "My cousin just had a baby, so they both took off from work and went to Columbus to visit."

"Why didn't you go?" Quinn asked, frowning.

Rachel shrugged. "I didn't want to miss school."

"Oh," Quinn said, nodding. "I guess I could come in for a bit, then."

Rachel opened the door and Quinn followed her through the foyer, through the hall, and into the kitchen. The brunette walked to the refrigerator, grabbed herself a bottle of water, and asked, "Would you like anything to drink?"

Quinn shook her head. "I'm fine."

"So, are you going to perform a song for this week's assignment?" Rachel asked, fidgeting with her bottle.

Quinn shrugged. "Maybe; I'm guessing you are."

"Of course," Rachel replied. "What kind of Glee co-captain would I be if I didn't take every assignment seriously."

"Finn doesn't and he's the other captain," Quinn noted.

"Yes, well, Finn didn't really want to be co-captain," Rachel replied.

"What song are you going to sing?" Quinn asked.

Rachel walked over to Quinn and stood in front of her. "You'll just have to wait until Friday to see."

"Not every performance has to be a surprise, Rachel," Quinn said, shaking her head.

Rachel gasped. "Of course it does."

"Okay, okay." Quinn said, laughing as she tucked a strand of hair behind Rachel's ear. "Did you have fun tonight?"

Rachel nodded. "I always have a wonderful time with you."

Quinn smiled. "Does that mean you're going to plan our third date?"

"It only seems fair," Rachel replied, brushing her lips over Quinn's.

Rachel put her hands on Quinn's hips and slowly backed her against the kitchen counter. Quinn kissed her for a few moments before putting her hand on Rachel's cheek and pulling away.

"I should really go," Quinn said, sighing.

Rachel frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Quinn replied. "It's a school night and it is getting kind of late."

Rachel looked at the time on the microwave and sighed. "You're right."

"I'm always right," Quinn said, smirking.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "On that note—I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Sweet dreams," Quinn said, giving Rachel a quick kiss before turning around and walking away.

* * *

><p>"Thank you, Brittany, for that—energetic performance," Mr. Schue said. "The Spice Girls, however, were from England."<p>

Brittany frowned. "Isn't that the same thing?"

Mr. Schue opened his mouth, but Santana spoke before he could say anything. "It was great, Britt."

Rory nodded. "It was wonderful."

Brittany beamed. "Thanks."

"Okay," Mr. Schue said, smiling. "So far we've heard 'Brown Eyed Girl' from Sam and 'Wannabe' from Brittany, so who's next?"

"Quinn and I are ready to go," Santana said, standing up.

"Great!" Mr. Schue said, smiling even wider.

Rachel was surprised; Quinn hadn't told her that she was doing a duet with Santana this week. In fact, she had asked her if she was going to perform and she didn't say she was. She also wondered when they even had time to rehearse; Quinn was usually with her during any extra time they had at school, they had went out the night before, and they only had their assignment for two days.

"Okay, so, this is from some group I've never hear of, but Rory assured me they're popular," Santana said. "Also, Quinn found the song, so blame her if you don't like the song."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I found it on your iPod."

Santana glared at her and several of the other kids laughed just as the music started playing.

Rachel furrowed her brows, trying to place the song, but it wasn't anything Rachel immediately recognized. She watched as Quinn and Santana glanced at each other before the latter stepped up to the microphone and began signing the first verse. The girl was staring directly at Brittany, smiling, and Brittany was smiling back at her girlfriend.

"_Thank you for tomorrow when you're gonna call me  
>Thank you for the weekend when you're gonna see me<br>Thank you for the memories we haven't made yet  
>You've always been a part of me, even before we met<br>Thank you in advance for the love you'll give me  
>I've had a glance of the good life<br>You'll be there when nobody believes me  
>I've gone through it all in my mind"<br>_

Quinn took the remaining step to her microphone and joined Santana on the chorus. Rachel had definitely never heard the song before and was quite surprised that it was something Santana would listen to.

_"I can see me looking at you  
>At the start of the day for all my life<br>I can see me dying to hold you  
>On the way when I'm driving home at night<br>I've got these pictures in my head  
>These pictures in my head, yeah<br>I've got these pictures in my head  
>These pictures in my head"<br>_

Quinn took over the next verse and kept glancing at Rachel; it was clear she was singing to her, but didn't want the other members of Glee to know it—or at least not the ones that were still in the dark. Rachel looked at Finn for a moment and his face was rather red; rolling her eyes, she turned her head back toward Quinn and tried blocking the boy out.

_"Thank you for tomorrow when you're gonna call me  
>Thank you for the weekend when you're gonna see me<br>Thank you in advance for the time you'll notice  
>I'm all you've wanted all of your life<br>Thank you for every single moment  
>I've gone through it all in my mind"<br>_

Santana sang the next line, and Rachel almost didn't think she had ever seen the girl as happy as she was right now.

_"Thank you for the best times, thank you for the journey"  
><em>

Quinn smiled shyly and Rachel couldn't help it when a grin overtook her face. In the moment she didn't care how obvious her feelings were for the blonde; she was just enjoying watching Quinn.

_"I can see me looking at you  
>At the start of the day for all my life<br>I can see me dying to hold you  
>On the way when I'm driving home at night<br>I can see me looking at you  
>At the start of the day for all my life<br>I can see me dying to hold you  
>On the way when I'm driving home at night<br>I've got these pictures in my head  
>These pictures in my head, yeah<br>I've got these pictures in my head  
>These pictures in my head"<em>

When Santana sung the final line, most of the group stood up, giving them a standing ovation. The Cheerio bowed, laughing, before Brittany flung herself into the girl's arms. Rachel was watching Quinn and the blonde shook her head, smiling as she watched her best friend; Quinn finally seemed to notice that Rachel was staring, though, and she looked up at her and shrugged in a self-deprecating way. Rachel would never understand why the blonde didn't have more confidence in her performances; she always thought the other girl had a beautiful voice.

"I told you," Finn whispered, walking behind her.

Ignoring Finn, she stood up, and walked over to Quinn, hugging her. When she pulled back, she smiled and whispered, "That was beautiful."

Quinn blushed. "Thanks."

"Hello!" Santana said, holding out her arms.

"You were wonderful too, Santana," Rachel said, laughing as she hugged the brunette.

"Damn right," Santana said, smirking.

Rachel rolled her eyes but laughed. "And so humble."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Berry," Santana said, following behind the brunette.<p>

Rachel sighed. "Santana, we're friends now."

"And?" Santana asked.

"And can't you actually call me by my first name?" Rachel asked.

"No," Santana said, grabbing Rachel by the arm to stop her. "We need to talk."

"About wh—you know, you don't have to pull me; all you have to do is ask and I would willingly go with you," Rachel said as she was pulled along by the Cheerio into a nearby, empty classroom.

"My way is more fun," Santana said, crossing her arms over her chest. "So—Q told me you two went on another date the other night."

"Yes, we did," Rachel said, frowning.

"So you two are obviously getting more serious—"

"It was only our second date," Rachel interrupted.

"You don't get to talk right now," Santana said, holding her hand up. "You two are getting more serious and it's time we have a chat. Quinn might act all tough on the outside, but as you've figured out by now, it's a bunch of bullshit. She's insecure and hides herself from most people, but she's let you in and you best not make her regret that because I swear, if you hurt her in any way, I will kick your ass. Are we clear?"

Rachel nodded. "Very."

"Good," Santana said, turning on her heel, and strolling out of the room.

Rachel sighed, frowning; she wasn't expecting hostile Santana to show up today. She didn't even understand why the other girl was threatening her. Did she really think she was going to hurt Quinn? Given their track record, it only seemed logical that it would be the other way around. She sighed again, walking toward the door, and as soon as stepped out of the room, she nearly collided with Quinn.

"Hey," Quinn said, smiling widely for a moment, but she seemed to notice the look on Rachel's. "Hey—what's wrong?"

Rachel scowled, looking down the hall. "Santana just threatened me; she told me if I hurt you, she'll—and I quote—'kick my ass.' I don't understand why she felt the need to do so, though."

Quinn laughed. "If it makes you feel any better, she gave me the same speech."

"What?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"Yesterday, after school," Quinn replied.

"I thought—I don't know what I thought," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"You thought you were the only one to get the speech, and you were hurt because you're friends with her and felt like she was choosing me over you," Quinn stated.

Rachel frowned. "How did you know?"

"Because I know you," Quinn replied. "Your friendships mean more to you than anything else—except maybe Broadway." Quinn smiled and nudged Rachel. "Don't worry, okay? You mean a lot to Santana and she did a very good job threatening me."

"Good," Rachel said. "I mean—not that she threatened you, but you know."

Quinn laughed. "It's fine, Rach."

"Sup, guys," Puck said, waking up, and putting his arm around Rachel's shoulders.

"Puck," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Are you ready?" Puck asked, ignoring Quinn, and looking down at Rachel.

Rachel nodded. "I'll meet you in the choir room."

"Cool," Puck said, removing his arm from around her.

Quinn turned to watch Puck leave and then turned back to Rachel with a scowl on his face. "What was that about?"

"Noah agreed to accompany me today on his guitar," Rachel replied. "I want it to be perfect, so I asked him to rehearse with me once more before I have to perform in Glee."

"Fine," Quinn said, crossing her arms. "I'll see you later."

"Quinn," Rachel said, reaching out to stop the blonde.

Quinn sighed. "What?"

"While I actually think it's cute when you get jealous, I would like to assure you that there is nothing going on between me and Noah," Rachel whispered.

Quinn scoffed. "I am not jealous." Rachel slowly smiled and Quinn sighed, looking away. "Fine, maybe I am."

"Well, there is absolutely no need to be," Rachel said, squeezing Quinn's hand.

Rachel wanted to wrap her arms around Quinn, but they were in the middle of the hall. She wasn't used to censoring her affectionate nature, but they had really dodged a bullet with Sebastian, and she wasn't about to do something that would get other people talking. Quinn deserved to be able to come out on her own terms and Rachel was determined not to do anything that was going to jeopardize that.

"Are you alright?" Quinn asked, furrowing her brows.

"Yeah, I'm wonderful," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn nodded. "Don't you have to meet Puck?"

"Oh, right," Rachel said, laughing lightly. "I will see you later.

Quinn nodded. "I look forward to hearing what song you're singing."

"That's because you know I'll be amazing," Rachel joked.

"No doubt," Quinn replied, giving Rachel a lopsided smile.

* * *

><p>"Okay, who wants to go fir—yes, Rachel?"<p>

"I would like to perform first," Rachel said, standing up.

"Go on," Mr. Schue said, motioning to the floor as he walked to sit in one of the chairs.

She nodded to Puck, who walked to the side of the room and grabbed his guitar. Rachel walked to the middle of the room, adjusting the microphone to her level. She gave Puck another nodded and he and the band started playing.

"_Go on, go on, leave me breathless  
><em>_Come on"_

Rachel smiled widely and glanced at Quinn; the blonde had a small smile on her face and was watching her every move.

"_The daylight's fading slowly  
><em>_But time with you is standing still  
><em>_I'm waiting for you only  
><em>_The slightest touch and I feel weak"_

Puck smirked at Rachel as he walked around her and she gave him a smile back. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Finn had a scowl on his face, but she resisted rolling her eyes at him.

"_I cannot lie  
><em>_From you I cannot hide  
><em>_And I'm losing the will to try  
><em>_Can't hide it  
><em>_Can't fight it"_

Puck joined her on the chorus, which only made Finn cross his arms; this time, Rachel did look at him and roll her eyes at his childish behavior.

"_So go on, go on, come on leave me breathless  
><em>_Tempt me, tease me, until I can't deny  
><em>_This lovin' feeling  
><em>_Make me long for your kiss  
><em>_Go on, go on, yeah  
><em>_Come on"_

Rachel grabbed the microphone from the stand and walked onto the risers. Santana whistled at her and, much to Rachel's surprise, slapped her butt as she walked by. Santana smirked and Rachel assumed it was due to the shocked look on her face. Luckily Quinn was shaking her head but smiling.

"_And if there's no tomorrow  
><em>_And all we have is here and now  
><em>_I'm happy just to have you  
><em>_You're all the love I need somehow  
><em>_It's like a dream  
><em>_Although I'm not asleep  
><em>_And I never want to wake up  
><em>_Don't lose it  
><em>_Don't leave it"_

Brittany was standing up, dancing to the music, and pulling everyone else out of their seats. Most of the club was clapping to the beat and everyone seemed to be enjoying her performance. Kurt and Rory seemed to be the only two to recognize the song, so they were the only ones actually singing along.

"_So go on, go on, come on leave me breathless  
><em>_Tempt me, tease me, until I can't deny  
><em>_This lovin' feeling  
><em>_Make me long for your kiss  
><em>_Go on, go on, yeah  
><em>_Come on_

"_And I can't lie  
><em>_From you I cannot hide  
><em>_And I've lost my will to try  
><em>_Can't hide it  
><em>_Can't fight it"_

Rachel looked at Quinn and couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. The blonde had her eyebrow cocked and was smirking at Rachel; she didn't know what was going through Quinn's mind at the moment, but she definitely seemed to be enjoying watching her.

"_So go on, go on, come on leave me breathless  
><em>_Tempt me, tease me, until I can't deny  
><em>_This lovin' feeling  
><em>_Make me long for your kiss  
><em>_Go on, go on, come on leave me breathless  
><em>_Go on, go on, come on leave me breathless  
><em>_Go on, go on, come on leave me breathless  
><em>_Go on, go on"_

Everyone clapped as soon as she finished the last note; she and Puck both bowed and the mohawked boy held his hand up, so Rachel laughed and gave him a high-five.

"Thank you, Noah," Rachel said.

"Don't mention it," he replied, giving her a one-armed hug.

"What's with all these stupid love songs?" Finn asked. "And why are you singing with Puck?"

"Okay, that's it!" Santana yelled, standing up, and marching over to Finn. "I'm so tired of you opening your mouth and spewing out your stupidity. From now on, you won't talk when I'm around or I will buy a massive amount of duct tape and make it impossible for you to ever open it again. Rachel can sing with whoever the hell she wants to sing with; she isn't your girlfriend anymore and hasn't been for a long ass time, so get over it!"

"Santana!" Mr. Schue shouted. "You guys are a team and I'm very disappointed in you! You all have been ganging up on Finn lately and I want it to end right now."

Santana rolled her eyes. "You didn't seem to care when it was Berry that everyone was ganging up on, but now you suddenly care because it's Finn?"

Santana shook her head, walked toward the door, and out of the room. Everyone watched her go, including Rachel, who was still in the middle of the room with Puck. Her mouth was open in shock and she looked to Quinn, but the blonde seemed just as surprised at their friend's outburst.

"Well—" Mr. Schue scratched the back of his neck as everyone watched him. "Who's next?"

Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes sung a U2 song together and then Rory sung some sad song Rachel had never heard of; as soon as Rory finished, Mr. Schue ended their session a bit early since no one else had anything prepared.

"What was that?" Rachel asked, walking up to Quinn as soon as they were dismissed.

"That was Protective Santana," Quinn replied. "Normally she only comes out when it involves Brittany."

"I—okay?" Rachel said, shrugging in confusion.

"Just face it, Santana Lopez cares about you," Quinn said with a laugh.

"Which is wonderful, but not if she gets kicked out of Glee," Rachel said, frowning.

"I doubt that will happen," Quinn replied. "She actually had a point, which is why Schue didn't have a response; everyone treated you like crap and he didn't do a thing to stop it."

Rachel sighed and watched as the last few people left the room.

"Nice song, by the way," Quinn said, smirking.

A smile slowly spread across Rachel's face. "You liked it?"

"I like everything you sing," Quinn replied.

"Suck up," Rachel joked, nudging the blonde with her shoulder.

Quinn shrugged. "I'm just telling the truth."

Rachel sighed. "I really wish you didn't have to go away this weekend."

"I know," Quinn said, softly. "I should actually go; my mother wants to get out of here as early as possible, so she's probably waiting outside for me."

Rachel nodded. "Have fun at your sister's."

"Doubtful," Quinn said, laughing. "I'll text you, okay?"

"You better," Rachel replied, smiling sadly.

Quinn put her hands on Rachel's waist, pulled her closer, and leaned down to rest their foreheads together. "You better have our third date planned by the time I get back."

Rachel laughed lightly. "I will."

"Good." Quinn leaned down and quickly kissed Rachel. "I'll see you Monday morning."

Rachel smiled to herself as she watched the blonde walk away; she was sad that she wouldn't see her all weekend, but maybe it was a good thing. She had been so preoccupied with Quinn lately that she had been neglecting a few other things; she really needed to go over her notes to make sure all her plans were on track and maybe she could spend some time with Kurt. Plus, she had a date with Quinn to plan.

* * *

><p><strong>The songs used were Pictures In My Head by Westlife and Breathless by The Corrs. In case you haven't noticed by my chapter titles, I don't exactly listen to popular, American music, so this was my blatant attempt at inserting some songs I like into the story.<strong>

**Reviews are always appreciated and help keep me motivated, so please leave one if you can.**


	23. Girlfriend

**greenwave: Thank you for the recommendation; I'll try to check it out when I have the time. **

**santaku: That bad feeling is warranted…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23 – Girlfriend<strong>

Several more weeks went by; Quinn and Rachel had their third, fourth, and fifth dates—usually something simple like dinner and a movie or dinner and a concert—and Rachel found herself becoming happier, but more anxious at the same time. Things were so amazing with Quinn, but in the back of her mind, she worried that their time was limited. It was only ten weeks until graduation, and as much as she tried to tell herself that she would save Quinn, her greatest fear was that, in the end, she wouldn't be able to. Other than locking Quinn in a room on the actual day, she didn't even know what to do about it when the time came. Obviously Puck knew better than drink and drive, but that didn't mean it wouldn't happen some other way. Things she tried fixing seemed to have a way of correcting themselves; not everything, but enough to make her more than nervous.

Rachel was staring into her locker, lost in thought, when her phone started vibrating. She grabbed it from atop the pile of textbooks in her locker and saw that she had a text from Quinn. She quickly opened the text, wondering what Quinn could possibly be sending her a message about since they had just parted from the bleachers only a few minutes prior. All it said was for her to go to the choir room, though, so Rachel frowned, grabbed the books she needed for first period, and hurried off to meet Quinn before the bell rang.

When she walked into the choir room, Quinn was inside, pacing around the room. She could immediately tell something was very wrong with the blonde.

"Quinn?" Rachel said, closely watching the other girl.

Quinn stopped pacing and turned to look at her; her face looked pale and she stood there, not saying a word. With every second that passed, Rachel was getting more and more concerned.

"Quinn, what's wrong?" Rachel asked, walking toward the blonde.

"It's Finn," Quinn said, taking a few steps back and away from Rachel.

"What about Finn?" Rachel asked, trying to stop herself from worrying too much.

"He caught up to me in the hall right after you left to go to your locker," Quinn said, wrapping her arms around herself. "He pulled me into a classroom and—" Quinn sighed, shaking her head. "He told me he's going tell everyone that I'm gay, if I don't stay away from you. He's giving me until Friday at the end of Glee to decide. He's not just threatening to tell everyone at school; he even said he would tell my mother."

"He what?!" Rachel yelling.

This time, Rachel started pacing; she was furious with Finn and couldn't believe he was doing this. She knew he wanted her back, but doing this to Quinn was just unacceptable. How could he ever think that this was the way to win her back? As soon as she realized what she was doing, she stopped, though, and turned to Quinn.

"I am so sorry," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I had no idea he would ever do something like this."

"Why not?" Quinn said, sitting down, and putting her head in her hands. "I guess outing Santana wasn't enough for him."

"What—" Rachel closed her mouth; she wanted to ask Quinn what she was going to do, but she was afraid to know the answer.

When the bell rang, neither girl moved; Quinn continued staring at the ground and Rachel continued staring at Quinn.

"You should get to class," Quinn stated.

"I don't—"

"You should go," Quinn said.

Rachel nodded. "I'll see you later?"

Quinn didn't respond in any way, so Rachel took a deep breath and turned to leave the room. She didn't want to leave Quinn alone, but she didn't know what else to do. She could tell the blonde was completely panicking right now, but she also knew Quinn enough to know that she didn't want to talk about it and would only get defensive if she tried to push.

When she walked into her class, the teacher didn't even look up, so Rachel quickly walked to her seat. She saw Kurt watching her out of the corner of her eye and he turned around as soon as she was seated next to him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered.

Rachel shook her head. "Nothing."

Kurt narrowed his eyes and glanced at the teacher before turning back to her. "You look like you're going to be sick. Oh, you're not going to throw up are you?" Kurt was already recoiling away from her.

"No," Rachel whispered, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "It's nothing, Kurt, pay attention to class."

She wanted to tell him, but she knew he had to live with Finn and she didn't want to make things even worse between them. They had never been _that_ close in the past, but her coming back seemed to have a negative impact on their relationship. She didn't intend for it to happen, but in becoming friends with Santana and defending her when Finn outed her, Kurt seemed to have an even stronger, negative reaction to his stepbrother than he previously did. He wasn't happy with Finn when it happened the first time, but he had forgiven him for it; this time, though, he barely spoke to his step-brother since it happened.

"Seriously, Rachel, wha—"

"Mr. Hummel," the teacher said, staring at Kurt. "Is there something you would like to tell the entire class or would you like to continue whispering to Miss Berry?"

"Sorry," Kurt said, his cheeks turning pink.

"I told you to pay attention," Rachel whispered as soon as the teacher's back was turned again.

* * *

><p>"Rach, honey, are you going to come down for dinner?" Hiram asked, knocking lightly on the door.<p>

Rachel closed her eyes, willing him to go away. "I'm not hungry."

"May I come in?" Hiram asked through the door.

"Yes, Dad," Rachel replied, sighing.

Hiram opened the door a crack, peeking in, before opening the door all the way. "Honey, please come down to the table to eat dinner with us. You've been up here all day and you're really worrying your father and me."

Rachel sighed again and opened her eyes, looking at her dad. "I'll be down in a minute, okay?"

Hiram nodded and then walked away, leaving her alone again. Rachel groaned as she rolled off the bed; she walked to her bathroom, checking herself in the mirror, before heading downstairs to join her fathers for dinner. She really just wanted to be alone at the moment, but she didn't want her fathers worrying more than they already were. She had been sulking in her room whenever she wasn't at school; she hoped her fathers wouldn't notice, but they were so attentive that they realized it within a few hours of her coming home the day before.

When she walked into the dining room, her fathers were already seated at the table and one of them had made a plate of food for her, which was sitting at her normal spot. They were both looking at her in concern, but she tried to ignore the looks they were giving her and sat down. She hadn't had much of an appetite for the past two days, but she attempted to eat something to appease her fathers.

"Okay," Leroy said, setting his fork on his plate. "Hiram and I have tried to give you your space, but we're worried about you. You've been up in your room for the last few days, you've barely eaten anything—it's not like you to shut the world out."

"We don't want to pry, honey, but we're concerned," Hiram added.

"What's wrong?" Leroy asked.

"It's Finn," Rachel said, sighing.

Her fathers exchanged a look and then Leroy said, "Please tell me you and he haven't reconciled—not that we wouldn't be happy about it if you were happy."

"No, it's not that," Rachel replied.

"Oh, thank heavens," Hiram said, breathing a sigh of relief. "What had Finn done now, then?"

"He is trying to blackmail someone I care about very much," Rachel replied.

"Blackmailing how?" Leroy asked. "Who is he blackmailing?"

"It's Quinn," Rachel said, fidgeting with her hands.

She was nervous about telling them and she didn't really even know why; it's not like they wouldn't accept her for having feelings for a girl. Part of her was afraid they would change their feelings towards the blonde, though. Despite Hiram's initial reservations, they both seemed to adore her now; however, being friends with her and dating her were two very different things and Rachel didn't want anything to change.

"Quinn and I have been—we've been seeing each other," Rachel said, looking at Hiram.

"As in romantically?" Hiram asked.

Rachel nodded. "Finn doesn't know that, although half the members of Glee do, but he does know that Quinn likes me. We don't know how he figured it out, but he told Quinn if she doesn't promise to stay away from me by the end of the week, he'll tell everyone, including her mom."

"That little bastard," Leroy said, throwing his napkin onto the table.

"How long have you and she been together?" Hiram asked.

"Things kind of changed between us at New Year's," Rachel replied. "We went on our first date right before Valentine's Day and we've been out several more times since then, but we're not officially an item. I would very much like her to be my girlfriend, but I've been trying to let Quinn set the pace of our relationship."

Hiram placed his hand of Rachel's. "Do you know what she's going to do?"

Rachel shook her head. "We haven't really spoken since yesterday morning. While I obviously don't want her to give in to Finn's demands, I want her to do what thinks is best. I refuse to push her into doing something she isn't ready for and coming out is going to be such a huge thing for her. She's already lost everything once; she's terrified her mom won't accept her and that she'll be kicked out of her home again."

"Let Quinn know that if that were to happen, she can always stay here," Leroy said, putting his hand on Rachel's other hand.

"Really?" Rachel asked.

Hiram nodded in agreement. "I will even clean up the guestroom."

Rachel laughed lightly. "But where will you craft?"

"The basement is mostly empty," Hiram said, shrugging. "Seriously, though, honey, if things were to come to that, Quinn always has a place to stay. I know I might have not been entirely welcoming in the beginning, but Quinn seems like a wonderful person—much better than Finn."

"_Much_ better," Leroy agreed.

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief; she didn't know why she ever doubted her fathers, though, since they were always supportive and loving no matter what.

"Thank you," Rachel said, smiling at them, and then standing up and hugging both of them. "Have I told you lately that you're the best dads a girl could ever ask for?"

"No, but we already knew that," Leroy said, winking when she pulled away.

* * *

><p>"We need to talk," Santana said, stepping in front of Rachel, and crossing her arms<p>

"Don't you usually just grab my arm and pull me into an empty room?" Rachel asked.

Santana narrowed her eyes. "I can still do that."

"What do you want to talk about?" Rachel asked, sighing.

"I want to know why the hell you're walking around like someone told you that you ate your favorite pet and I want to know why Q's walking around looking like she found out she's knocked up again," Santana replied. "What the hell is going on? And don't tell me it's nothing because I'm not believing that bullshit. Something is going on with you two and I want to know what it is."

Rachel looked around; they were in the hall but they were almost completely alone. The few people that were around were completely engrossed in their own conversations and she figured it was unlikely that anyone was paying attention to her and Santana.

"Do you promise you won't go all Lima Heights?" Rachel asked.

"What did you do?" Santana asked accusingly.

"What? Nothing!" Rachel said, scowling. "I simply do not want you causing a scene because it will only make things worse than they already are."

"Fine," Santana said, huffing.

"Finn—he knows about Quinn and is threatening her to stay away from me," Rachel said, looking away.

"I am going to kill him," Santana said, taking a few steps, but Rachel grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"You promised," Rachel reminded her.

"What is he threatening her with?" Santana asked.

"He—" Rachel hesitated; she was afraid of what Santana might do, but she also knew the other girl wouldn't stop until her question was answered. "He said he would tell everyone."

Santana nodded and then turned and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked, jogging to catch up to her.

"I'm going to find him and punch him in his doughy face," Santana replied, continuing to walk.

"You can't," Rachel said, grabbing for Santana's arm.

"Why not?" Santana asked. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't find him right now and do what I've been wanting to do for a very long time."

"Because you'll get suspended from school," Rachel answered.

"Not if no one catches me," Santana replied.

"Santana, he's not worth it," Rachel said, continuing to follow beside her friend. "Believe me, I'm angry with him too—you have no idea how much this is killing me, but it's not worth getting suspended from school or getting kicked out of Glee or whatever punishment Figgins feels like giving out. No one will care that Finn deserved it and he's not worth hurting your future."

"I don't want him to think he's going to get away with something like this again," Santana said, finally stopping.

"I know and we won't let him," Rachel said, stepping in front of Santana. "I just don't want anyone to do something they're going to regret. Plus, if we make him mad, he might tell everyone just to retaliate."

Santana nearly growled in frustration. "I can't believe how much I hate him right now."

"I know," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I never thought he would sink this low."

Santana sighed. "No wonder Quinn looks like shit."

"She won't talk to me—not that I blame her," Rachel said, ducking her head.

"Has she figured out what's she going to do?" Santana asked.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what she's going to do. I just—I just wish she would talk to me. He's giving her until Friday to make up her mind; after that, he's going to start telling people. I'm scared she's not going to think this is worth it—that in the end, she'll be too afraid to be with me."

"She'll choose you," Santana stated.

"You don't know that," Rachel said, looking at her feet.

"Yes, I do," Santana replied. "Quinn may run, but she isn't going to let Finn push her around like that. And as much as I totally don't understand it—she actually seems to like you." Santana smirked a bit and Rachel rolled her eyes. "She won't let him win; hell, she did that duet with you when she thought Sebastian was going to tell everyone."

"This is different," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Finn is actually threatening to tell her mom; at least with Sebastian, the school would know, but maybe she could have kept it from her."

Santana took a deep breath. "Remind me again why punching him in the face is a bad thing."

"You don't want to ruin your future," Rachel reminded her.

"I'm starting to think it would totally be worth it," Santana said, staring down the hall.

Rachel laughed lightly. "I know, but promise me you won't."

Santana rolled her eyes. "I promise I won't punch that jackass in the face even if he deserves it—at least not on school grounds and not with any witnesses."

* * *

><p>By the time Rachel walked into the choir room Friday afternoon, she was a nervous wreck. She still hadn't talked to Quinn and she had no idea what decision the blonde had made, but her time was up. She looked up and noticed Santana at the back of the room; the Cheerio actually looked nervous, which made Rachel even more nervous than she already was. Santana had seemed so sure that Quinn would choose her, but now the other girl didn't look so certain.<p>

Tina and Mercedes walked in right behind Rachel; they were both smiling and laughing. Santana narrowed her eyes at them, which Tina seemed to notice because she immediately stopped laughing and frowned. Rachel shook her head at Santana and walked up the risers to sit next to her.

"Why are you glaring at Tina and Mercedes?" Rachel asked.

Santana shrugged. "Their good mood is annoying me."

"That's no reason to glare at our fellow Glee club members," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

Santana scoffed. "Since when do I need a reason to glare?"

"Will you quit that?" Rachel asked.

"Quit what?" Santana asked, scowling at her.

"Shaking your leg," Rachel said, motioning to Santana's lower body.

Santana sighed and leaned forward in her seat. Brittany walked in a few moments later and Santana visibly relaxed as soon as she saw the blonde. The other girl smiled at Santana and then waved to Rachel as she walked up to sit down next to her girlfriend. After Brittany, everyone else started filing in, but Quinn, Puck, and Finn had still not come into the room. A minute later, though, Finn walked in and she looked over just in time to see Santana flip him off, but he didn't appear to notice the gesture.

"Okay, guys, sorry I'm late." Mr. Schue walked in, but stopped and looked around the room. "Does anyone know where Puck and Quinn are?"

"We're here," Quinn answered, walking in with Puck in tow.

"Have a seat," he said, smiling at them.

"Actually, Mr. Schue, I was wondering if it would alright for me to perform a song before we start," Quinn said, stopping in the middle of the room.

"Uh, sure," Mr. Schue said, stepping aside. "I'm always happy to have people take the initiate to perform."

"What is she doing?" Santana whispered, leaning toward Rachel.

Rachel shook her head. "I have no idea."

She looked at Puck; he had his guitar strapped around his neck and he just smirked at her, leaving Rachel even more confused. Everyone watched as Quinn grabbed the microphone from the stand and with a nod to Puck, he started strumming on his acoustic guitar. The rest of the band remained standing around, so the only music was from Puck.

"_There she goes  
><em>_There she goes again  
><em>_Racing through my brain  
><em>_And I just can't contain  
><em>_This feeling that remains"_

Santana's eyes widened. "Is she—"

"Oh my god," Rachel said, covering her mouth with her hand.

_"There she goes  
><em>_There she goes again  
><em>_Pulsing through my veins  
><em>_And I just can't contain  
><em>_This feeling that remains"_

Quinn gave Rachel a nervous smile, shrugging her shoulders the slightest bit; the blonde was walking towards her and Rachel gave her what she hoped was an encouraging smile back.

"_There she goes  
><em>_There she goes again  
><em>_Racing through my brain  
><em>_And I just can't contain  
><em>_This feeling that remains"_

The girl was obviously singing to Rachel and she noticed several of the others in the room giving each other confused looks. Rachel almost wanted to laugh at the look on Mercedes' face; her mouth was hanging open and her eyebrows were raised. Kurt and Blaine were both smiling widely, though, and Brittany looked happier than she had ever seen her, which was amazing because the blonde Cheerio was always happy.

"_There she goes  
><em>_There she goes again  
><em>_She calls my name  
><em>_Pulls my train  
><em>_No one else could heal my pain  
><em>_And I just can't contain  
><em>_This feeling that remains"_

Quinn was standing directly in front of her, singing to her. Rachel was beaming and even Santana was smiling widely; she knew they were both proud of Quinn for doing this. When Quinn took her hand, Rachel entwined their fingers together, gently squeezing the blonde's hand.

"_There she goes  
><em>_There she goes again  
><em>_Chasing down my lane  
><em>_And I just can't contain  
><em>_This feeling that remains_

"_There she goes  
><em>_There she goes  
><em>_There she goes"_

Before she even finished, Kurt was on his feet, clapping; everyone who already knew weren't very far behind, but several remained in their seats with matching looks of confusion on their faces.

"Whoa, hold up," Mercedes said, holding up both hands. "What was that?"

"That was me not letting anyone push me around," Quinn replied. "Rachel, I know I've probably put you through a lot this week and I know I promised to stop running, so I hope you're not too angry with me, but last night I realized you're more important to me than anything else. We've been trying to take things slow and we haven't exactly defined our relationship—but I want you to be my girlfriend and I don't care anymore who knows it."

Rachel stood up, walked the few steps over to Quinn, and pulled her into a kiss. The blonde's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer, and several of the people in the room—she thought maybe it was Brittany and Sam—whooped at them. Rachel pulled away, laughing, but kept her arms wrapped around Quinn's neck.

"Quinn Fabray, I would love to be your girlfriend," Rachel replied.

"It's about damn time," Santana yelled, laughing.

"Are you kidding me?" Finn angrily shouted.

"I've promised Berry that I won't punch you in the face, but if you say one more damn thing, I will break that promise," Santana said, pointing at him.

Quinn smirked as she looked at the boy. "Looks like you were wrong about her never being mine."

"How did this happen?" Mercedes asked, shaking her head.

"Okay, that's enough," Mr. Schue finally said, stepping up. "If you two would have a seat, I have a few things I would like to discuss with you guys."

Quinn held her hand out for Rachel and the brunette gladly took it. When they walked into the risers, Sam gave them a thumbs up, Artie and Mike both smiled at them, but Mercedes still looked flabbergasted.

"I told you she would choose you," Santana whispered as soon as Rachel was seated.

"You didn't seem so sure of that a few minutes ago," Rachel replied.

Santana shrugged. "I wasn't worried."

"Right," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Rachel, honey, Quinn is here," Leroy announced, walking into the living room.<p>

Rachel immediately turned off the television and jumped up from the couch. "Hello."

"Hey," Quinn replied.

"Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes; you're more than welcome to stay and eat with us," Leroy said, turning to leave.

"Thank you," Quinn said, smiling at him.

Rachel walked around the couch and wrapped her arms around the blonde. "Are you still doing okay?"

Quinn sighed as she returned the hug. "Mostly."

Rachel released Quinn from the hug and leaned up to kiss Quinn, but she ducked away.

"What's wrong?" Rachel said, frowning in concern.

"Your dad is in the kitchen," Quinn said, nodding toward the other room.

"They know about us," Rachel stated.

"Since when?" Quinn asked, her voice rising.

"Let's go upstairs," Rachel said, grabbing Quinn's hand.

Quinn nodded and Rachel led them upstairs to her bedroom; she hadn't had a chance to tell the blonde about her fathers' offer since Quinn had avoided her up until her Glee performance. She didn't want to talk downstairs, though; she loved her fathers immensely, but they could be a little nosy sometimes.

"How long have they known?" Quinn asked the moment the door was shut.

"Not long," Rachel replied. "I was a little down this week and they inquired about what was wrong with me and I didn't want to lie to them, so I told them. They actually didn't seem particularly surprised and they were very supportive; they actually wanted me to tell you that you can stay here. You know, if your mom was to find out and she didn't react so well to the information."

"They would really let me stay here?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded, smiling. "They like you, Quinn, and they don't want you to have to worry about not having a place to stay."

Quinn nodded and then looked at Rachel with her eyebrows knitted together. "They're really okay with us dating?"

"Completely," Rachel replied.

Rachel watched as Quinn walked the rest of the way across the room and sat down on her bed. She couldn't really tell what was going on in the blonde's head at the moment, but she hoped Quinn would be less worried now that she knew she wouldn't end up on the street.

"What do you think Monday is going to be like?" Quinn asked, looking up at her.

"I don't know," Rachel replied, shrugging. "Hopefully no one cares; no one seemed to when Santana and Brittany finally came out and people no longer really care that Blaine and Kurt are together. Maybe we won't be any different"

"I hope you're right," Quinn said, looking away, and sighing.

"Do you think Finn will still tell your mom?" Rachel asked, walking over, and sitting down next to Quinn.

Quinn shrugged. "I don't know—maybe. He didn't exactly seem very happy today."

Rachel couldn't help but grin. "At least I finally understood what everyone meant by Finn hurting the chairs."

His initial outburst was nothing compared to the one that came after Glee had ended. As soon as Mr. Schue left, Finn stormed up to them, demanding an explanation; he was ranting about Rachel being straight and trying to convince her that Quinn was somehow brainwashing her. Sam and Mike had to both hold Santana back to keep her from hitting Finn while Puck tried to get him to just leave. Before he left, he had knocked over several of the chairs on the risers and kicked over the chair near the door on his way out of the choir room.

Quinn laughed lightly. "I can't believe it took you that long to notice."

Finn always had a temper; it was something she always overlooked because she loved him, but the more she fell out of love, the more it bothered her. He had never been physically violent with her, but there had been a few instances where he scuffled with overzealous fans and when they argue, he did usually take it out on inanimate objects.

"I'm sorry, by the way," Quinn said, sighing.

"What are you sorry for?" Rachel asked, her brows furrowing together in confusion.

"I didn't exactly ask you if it was okay for me to tell everyone like that," Quinn replied.

Rachel waved her off. "While it would have been nice to know you were going to do that, so I could stop worrying about whether or not our relationship was over, I'm not mad about it. In fact, it was a nice surprise."

"I didn't know I was going to do it until this morning," Quinn said, smiling. "It seemed appropriate, though."

"I also do appreciate grand gestures," Rachel said, nudging Quinn.

Quinn nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Rachel laughed just as there was a knock on her door. "Yes?"

"May I come in?" Leroy asked.

"Of course, Daddy," Rachel said and Quinn hurriedly stood up from the bed; she gave the blonde a curious look, but Quinn just shrugged.

"I just wanted to check and see how you were doing, Quinn," Leroy said, walking in to the room. "Rachel told us about what happened at school today and I wanted you to know that you did a very brave thing."

"I'm fine," Quinn said, blushing. "I'm a little worried about what's going to happen when we go back on Monday, but I don't regret anything."

"I'm glad you think my daughter is worth it," Leroy said, smiling. "I'll let you know, though, she can be a handful."

"Daddy!" Rachel said, stomping her foot.

Leroy winked at Quinn. "Are you sure you want to deal with her tantrums?"

"Okay, I am going to have to insist that you leave now," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

"See," Leroy said, pointing to Rachel; she rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms, causing Leroy to laugh. "All joking aside, I want you to know that my husband and I are both happy for you two. We never thought Finn was good enough for our Rachel, but you're exactly the type of person we always envisioned her with. Just know that you always have a place here if you ever need it."

"Thank you," Quinn said, wrapping her arms around Leroy.

"Just treat our girl right," Leroy said, patting her back.

Quinn smiled in response and Rachel reached out, taking her hand. She smiled to herself, happy that her girlfriend and parents could get along so well. As much as Finn tried, he never meshed very well with them, and it was always a strain on her when they all gathered together for the holidays.

"Dinner is ready if you two would like to come down," Leroy said, backing out of the room.

"We'll be down in a few minutes," Rachel called after him and then turning to Quinn. "I know it's easier said than done, but try not to worry too much about Monday, okay? We'll make it through this together, so let's enjoy this weekend and not think about what may or may not happen."

Quinn nodded and ducked down to kiss Rachel; when she pulled back she had a smile on her face, which matched Rachel's.

"So, what's for dinner?" Quinn asked.

"I'm not sure," Rachel replied, tugging Quinn toward the door. "Let's go find out."

* * *

><p><strong>You guys are very lucky I posted this tonight because I honestly didn't think I would have it done. Next Tuesday's will probably be late, though; Friday I'm driving five hours to see my best friend for the weekend, so unless I manage to write it on the way there and on the way back, it'll probably be a few days late. Let's just all hope I can get my girlfriend to drive the whole time so I can actually get it done.<strong>

**The song used was There She Goes by Sixpence None The Richer**

**Reviews are always appreciated.**


	24. Come So Far

**Okay, this took a little longer than expected to write, but if you saw my planner, you could completely understand. Classes have only been in for a few weeks and I'm already swamped with work. God help me when Mists of Pandaria comes out.**

**DAgron01: Thank you. It means a lot considering how much I love your wonderful stories.**

**Thank you to everyone else that has reviewed; I would respond to more of you, but I need to get to bed and you probably just want to get on with the reading.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24 – Come So Far <strong>

Rachel watched as Quinn took a deep breath; she was still standing on the bleachers and seemed reluctant to leave the safety of them. She knew the blonde was nervous about walking into the school and she really couldn't blame her because she was slightly nervous as well. Their peers weren't exactly known for their acceptance, but Kurt, Blaine, Brittany, and Santana were all out and able to walk down the hallways, holding hands, without people really noticing anymore, so Rachel was hopeful that no one would pay attention to them, either. Part of her knew that this was a bigger deal, though; this was Quinn Fabray, former head Cheerio, who was not only telling everyone she was gay, but that she was with Rachel.

"Okay, I think I'm ready," Quinn said, taking the final few steps down.

"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded. "Mostly."

Rachel laughed lightly. "Maybe it won't be as horrible as you think it will be."

Quinn shrugged and reached for Rachel hand. "Maybe not with you standing beside me."

Rachel smiled and Quinn started walking toward the doors to the school. She was walking slightly slower than normal, probably trying to delay the inevitable. Whether or not Finn actually told anyone, they didn't know, but Quinn had made another preemptive strike, announcing to everyone on Facebook that they were a couple. The blonde still hadn't told her mom, but it was probably only a matter of time before she found out and Rachel wished she would tell her before she found out another way. She wasn't going to pressure her into telling, though, but she had brought it up, giving her thoughts on the situation.

"Are you still ready?" Rachel asked as they stood just outside the door.

"No," Quinn said, but she still opened the door, allowing Rachel to walk in first.

When they walked in no one seemed to notice at first, but the farther they walked, the more Rachel started noticing a lot of people glancing at them, several people openly staring at them, and other were whispering to one another. She was starting to feel a little self-conscious, but she still held on tightly to Quinn's hand and gave it a squeeze since she knew the other girl was probably internally freaking out.

"I need to grab a book from my locker," Rachel said as they neared.

"Why does everyone have to stare?" Quinn asked, letting go of Rachel's hand so she could put in her combination.

"This is Lima, obviously their lives are not very exciting," Rachel said, smiling at her. "I'm sure it won't last for long, though, and by the time we come back after spring break, no one will really care anymore. The initial shock just has to wear off and then everyone will go back to the way it was before Friday."

"That would be nice," Quinn said, scowling at some freshman boy that seemed a little too interested in them. "If I can get through this week without smacking someone, that would be great."

"You wouldn't smack anyone," Rachel said, shaking her head. "Except, you know—that one time."

Quinn cringed. "I am still _so_ sorry about that."

"I have long forgiven you for that, Quinn," Rachel replied, shutting her locked. "Now, will you walk me to class?"

"What if I want you to walk me to class," Quinn asked.

"Maybe we can work out some sort of schedule," Rachel said, shrugging. "You can walk me Monday and Wednesday, I can walk you Tuesday and Thursday, and we can alternate Fridays."

Quinn laughed. "You're not going to make one of those cat calendars with the schedule on it, are you?"

Rachel blushed. "No, I believe it is easy enough to remember."

"And why do you get Monday and Wednesday?" Quinn asked.

"Because I came up with the plan," Rachel said, shrugging.

"More like so you could be the one to be walked to class today," Quinn said, smirking.

"That's also a possibility," Rachel replied.

Quinn sighed dramatically. "Okay, I guess I could walk you to class today."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"No," Quinn said, taking Rachel's free hand.

Quinn walked Rachel to her first class and the brunette could sense that her girlfriend was nervous once they reached the door. Rachel thought it was adorable when the blonde was nervous, though, since the majority of the time she had known her, she was always so self-assured.

"You don't have to kiss me," Rachel said, gently squeezing the other girl's hand. "You don't have to do anything you're not ready for."

"I know," Quinn said, leaning down, and bringing their lips together.

Rachel smiled into the kiss until someone in the hall whispered and they quickly pulled apart. She sighed and look around, trying to figure out who it was, but then she noticed Kurt marching toward one of the members of the football team.

"Grow up!" Kurt said, pointing his finger in the larger boy's face.

"Is there a problem?" Sam asked, appearing by Kurt's side.

The football player shook his head and started walking away; Sam clapped Kurt on the shoulder, nodded toward Quinn and Rachel, and left as well.

"Let's go," Kurt said, ushering Rachel into the classroom. "I need to tell you about my weekend."

"I'll see you after class," Rachel said, looking over her shoulder, and smiling at her girlfriend.

* * *

><p>Rachel felt someone brush against her side and when she turned, she was immediately met with a pair of lips on hers; she squeaked in surprise, but still returned the kiss. When she pulled back, she was staring into Quinn's bright, hazel eyes. She had been worried about how Quinn's day had been going since she last saw her, but the blonde actually looked quite happy, so she took it as a sign that her day hadn't been as bad as she had anticipated.<p>

"You look happy," Rachel said, entwining their fingers together.

Quinn shrugged. "I get to spend the next thirty minutes with you."

"Is your day going okay?" Rachel asked.

"You mean the whole hour since the last time you asked?" Quinn said, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes," Rachel said, feeling her face turning red.

She knew she was being a bit overprotective, but she couldn't help it; it was just in her nature to protect the people she cared about. It always seemed to annoy Finn, though; he would usually say she was being too clingy and he would get insulted if she tried to defend him in any way, which she never understood. Like Finn, it's not that she didn't think Quinn could take care of herself, but she wanted her to know she was there for her if the need arose.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Could you two please be less cute around each other?"

"Leave them alone," Blaine chastised.

"I still don't get it," Mercedes said, shaking her head.

"What's there to get?" Santana asked, narrowing her eyes.

"When did this happen?" Mercedes asked motioning between Quinn and Rachel. "I mean, first Quinn hated Rachel and then they became friends, which was weird enough, but now this?"

"You really didn't notice it?" Kurt asked.

"It's Quinn and Rachel—I didn't think there was anything _to_ notice," Mercedes replied. "And did everyone know but me?"

"Not everyone," Rachel replied.

"Most people," Kurt said, nodding.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mercedes asked, raising her eyebrows at Kurt.

"It wasn't my place to tell you," Kurt replied.

"And you?" Mercedes asked, turning to Tina.

"I told them I wouldn't," Tina said, shrugging. "And I just found out right after Regionals; it was sort of an accident, though."

"By that she means she walked in on them making out," Santana added.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "We were not making out."

"Can someone just start from the beginning?" Mercedes asked.

Quinn and Rachel looked at each other for a moment before Rachel opened her mouth and said, "It's a long story."

Mercedes shrugged. "We have time."

"Well, for me, it started around my birthday; I figured out then that Quinn had feelings for me," Rachel said.

"Some of us figured it out way before that," Kurt interjected.

"Yes, according to some people, I can be a bit obtuse sometimes," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, the short version," Quinn said. "I realized after Nationals last year that I had feelings for her and had for some time, but I was never willing to admit it to myself before that, so I treated her the way I did. Over the summer, I stopped fighting myself so much and then school started and we started becoming friends. At New Year's, I kissed her, but freaked out a bit—"

"You two have been together since New Year's," Finn finally spoke up from the other end of the table.

"Shut up or I will pull the duct tape out of my bag," Santana said, glaring at him.

"It took another month, but we finally went on our first date and then we just took things slow from there," Quinn said, ignoring Finn's outburst, and continuing on with her story.

Santana snorted. "And by slow they mean they made out every chance they got."

"That is a bit of an exaggeration, Santana," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Are you doing this just to hurt me?" Finn asked.

"Dude, give it a rest," Puck firmly said. "This isn't about you."

"But Rachel isn't gay!" Finn yelled.

"Did you hear anything they just said?" Puck asked, raising his voice.

"Stop yelling at each other," Brittany said, frowning.

"We should just give up," Santana said, sighing. "Clearly Finn is too stupid to understand anything above a grunt."

"Do you always have to be such a bitch?" Finn asked.

"You think I'm a bitch?" Santana asked, sneering. "Why don't we tell everyone about how _you_ threatened to out Quinn if she didn't stay away from your beloved Rachel."

"What?" Kurt yelled, whipping his head around to stare at his stepbrother.

"Friday by the end of Glee, wasn't it?" Santana asked. "Quinn beat you to it, though, and did it before you could. It must suck to know that your plan backfired and now she can walk around, holding Rachel's hand anywhere she wants. It's funny—didn't you tell everyone how sorry you were for doing that to me, but then you do the exact same thing to Quinn. This time it was worse, though; you were trying to use it to blackmail her."

Almost everyone was sitting in stunned silence; Finn and Santana were scowling at each other until he decided to finally stand up and walk away.

"I am so sorry," Blaine said to Quinn, breaking the silence. "I had no idea anything was wrong last week."

"Why didn't you tell us—why didn't you tell me?" Kurt asked.

Rachel sighed. "You live with him and I didn't want to make things even more strained at home. I know things haven't been great there for a while and I didn't want to add on to that. For better or worse, he is your step-brother."

"You should have told me," Puck said clenching his jaw. "I would have beat his ass."

"Which is precisely why I did not tell you, Noah," Rachel replied.

"The rest of the guys are not going to be happy when they find out," Tina said, shaking her head.

"Why do you say that?" Rachel asked, looking at her, and frowning.

"Ask Kurt," Tina said, ducking her head.

"Kurt?" Rachel said, narrowing her eyes.

"We might have made it our mission to protect you two from the Neanderthals of this school," Kurt replied, shrugging.

"Why didn't you do that with us?" Santana asked, motioning between her and Brittany.

"We did," Blaine replied. "You were just not aware it."

"We know you can take care of yourselves, but it doesn't hurt to have someone to back you up should the need arise," Kurt added.

"All the guys are in on this?" Quinn asked.

"Everyone but Finn, obviously," Kurt said, nodding.

Santana shook her head and suddenly stood up. "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Brittany asked.

"To talk to Mr. Schue.," Santana replied. "I think it's about damn time Finnept's reign as Glee captain ends."

* * *

><p>"I think you should add your name to the list," Rachel said, glancing at Quinn.<p>

"What?" Quinn asked, covering her mouth, and coughing

"For Glee," Rachel replied, taking a bite of her salad. "You could be co-captain with me."

Quinn shook her head, taking another drink of water. "I am perfectly fine with being a follower when it comes to the club. Besides, I think it should be one of the guys."

Rachel sighed. "I suppose you're right. I do hope our fellow members vote for Kurt; he will take the position seriously and not be ashamed of it; Finn always hoped people would forget that he was co-captain."

"I still can't believe Mr. Schue suspended him from Glee," Quinn said, shaking her head. "I was under the impression he thought Finn could do no wrong."

"I was very surprised myself," Rachel replied. "Mr. Schue has always lived vicariously through Finn and I thought he would make up some excuse for his behavior."

"I guess half the members threatening to quit made him take it a little more seriously," Quinn said, smirking.

"Only Santana would lead a Glee club rebellion," Rachel said, shaking her head but smiling. "I have to say, though, I like Protective Santana when I'm not on the receiving end of her wrath. Although, I do wish she would stop everyone else so much; I think most people are afraid to look at us right now."

Quinn laughed lightly. "That's better than the staring."

"Maybe a little bit," Rachel said, setting her empty food container to the side. "I look at it as practice for when I inevitably become famous, though."

"Of course you would," Quinn said, smiling softly at her.

"It's always good to look at the bright side of things," Rachel said, shrugging.

Quinn sighed. "I have a feeling that optimism will come in hand soon."

"What?" Rachel asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I've been thinking about telling my mom," Quinn replied. "Ever since Finn threatened to tell her, I realized I need to do it soon rather than later. As much as I do not want to have that conversation with her, it's going to be worse if she hears it from someone else, and now that everyone else knows, it's very possible that it could happen. You know this town—people like to gossip." Quinn shook her head. "Sometimes I really wish we didn't live in such a small town. It's sad that you and I dating is the most exciting thing that's happened at school all year."

"When are you thinking of telling her?" Rachel asked.

Quinn shrugged. "Whenever I finally stop panicking every time I even think about it."

"You know I will be there for you when you finally make the decision to tell her," Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand. "Either physically or just emotionally; I will be there in any way you need me to be."

"Does that mean you can tell her for me?" Quinn asked, smiling sadly.

Rachel laughed lightly. "Well, I could, but that would defeat the purpose of _you_ telling her."

Quinn sighed. "Yeah."

"I will be there with you if that's what you want, though," Rachel said, squeezing Quinn's hand. "Or if you want to do it alone, I can wait by the phone in case you need me."

"I know my mother isn't the same woman that let my father kick me out without saying a word, but I'm still afraid she's not going to be okay with this," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Although, it helps knowing that I have some place to go if things go bad."

"I'm aware that I don't know your mom as well as you do, but if it means anything, I don't think it will be quite as bad as you think it's going to be," Rachel replied. "She seems really nice and I can tell how much she cares about you; she made a mistake—admittedly a huge one—but she seems to genuinely want to make up for it, and I don't think she's going to make the same mistake a second time."

Quinn smiled softly. "You always want to believe the best in people, don't you?"

"If I didn't, we wouldn't be here right now," Rachel said, shrugging. "People make mistakes; hopefully they learn from them and become better people from them. Some people it just takes a little longer than others."

Quinn laughed. "Like me?"

"Well, I didn't want to be the one to say it," Rachel replied, holding back a smile. "All that really matters is that we're here now; who cares how long it took us to get here."

"It's a shame I wasted so much time trying to hate you," Quinn said, leaning over, and kissing Rachel on the cheek.

"I would have to concur," Rachel said, looking over at Quinn, and smiling.

* * *

><p>"I have a proposition for you," Quinn said, drumming her fingers on the table.<p>

Rachel's eyebrows rose. "Oh?"

"Okay, you have been hanging around Santana way too much." Quinn rolled her eyes. "It's nothing dirty."

"Oh," Rachel said, blushing.

Quinn cocked an eyebrow and stared at Rachel. "Did you want it to be?"

"No! No!" Rachel was emphatically shaking her head. "It just sounded—you know, I think you're right, and Santana is just rubbing off on me." Rachel cleared her throat. "What were you saying?"

"Well, spring break is next week, which you are obviously aware of, and I was curious if maybe you would like for some of our friends to tag along," Quinn replied. "If you want it to be just us, that's fine, but I thought maybe you would like to have Kurt and Blaine come along since Kurt will probably be joining you at NYADA and it might be nice for him to see it as well."

"That could be fun," Rachel said, smiling. "Maybe Brittany and Santana could come along as well."

"You want to take a road trip with Santana?" Quinn asked, frowning. "You're either very brave or incredibly stupid."

Rachel laughed. "She can't be that bad."

"Once we went on a small road trip—nothing very far, but we were in the car for eight hours and I was ready to kill her by the second hour," Quinn said, shaking her head. "Seriously, I was thinking of ways to do it and places to hide the body so no one would ever find her."

"I think you're exaggerating a bit," Rachel said, smiling.

"I'm really not," Quinn replied. "She wants to stop everywhere and she must have the world's smallest bladder because she had to stop every ten minutes to go to the bathroom. That eight hour trip was only supposed to take four, but she made us stop so much that it took twice as long as usual."

"Alright, I believe you, but she isn't going to be very happy with either of us if we invite Kurt and Blaine and fail to invite her and Brittany," Rachel said. "Besides, I think she would like to see where you and I are going to be living for the next four years and I get the feeling she loves the beach."

Quinn sighed. "Fine, but I'm warning you now, she tries to grab the wheel when she doesn't get her way and you try to ignore her."

Rachel laughed. "I will keep that in mind—and make her sit in the backseat, far away from the steering wheel."

Quinn shook her head, smiling, but then frowned. "How are we all going to fit in one car?"

"My fathers have a minivan," Rachel replied.

"Really?" Quinn asked.

"It's in the garage," Rachel said, nodding. "We almost never use it, but it's in there and I'm sure they will let us take it. If not, I will just have to remind them that this is a very important trip and I am getting a glimpse into my future, so it is very important to me, and therefore, should be very important to them."

Quinn laughed. "And that usually works on them?"

Rachel shrugged. "It hasn't failed me so far."

"So, you're sure you're fine with everyone else coming along?" Quinn asked.

"Of course," Rachel replied. "While the thought of it being just the two of us is very tempting, it also might be nice to have other people with us. Plus, I'm sure you and I will find plenty of time to do stuff on our own."

"Okay, I guess we can ask them at school later," Quinn said, smiling.

"I can't wait until next week," Rachel said, reaching across the table and putting her hand over Quinn's. "We get to go to New York and New Haven—it's going to be amazing."

Rachel was very excited; even though she had lived in New York for almost half her life, this was going to be different. Quinn was going to be with her and she couldn't wait to show her the city that she loved so much. They had been there together for Nationals, but it's not like they were even friends then, so this was really the first time they would get to experience the city together. She actually couldn't think of anything more perfect than being in New York City with Quinn.

* * *

><p>"Blaine and I are in," Kurt said as soon as he walked into class the next morning.<p>

"Santana and Brittany are as well, so it looks like we're all going," Rachel said, trying to not bounce in her seat from excitement.

The more she thought about it, the more she was looking forward to their trip. Obviously she had been around the city with Kurt and Blaine, but she wasn't exactly friends with Brittany and Santana in the future, so she was looking forward to being there with them. She already had a massive list of the places she wanted to go with everyone, but she was going to have to remove some of the things since they only had a little over two days in the city before they went to New Haven, so Quinn could see the Yale campus.

"This spring break trip is going to be amazing," Kurt said, getting a wistful look in his eyes. "A whole week away from Lima—I can't think of anything better."

Rachel laughed. "I know the feeling."

"Oh, if my dad calls your house, can you lie and tell him your parents are not there," Kurt said, pulling his notebook out of his bag.

"Why?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"I may have insinuated that one of them was going with us," Kurt said, shrugging.

"Kurt!" Rachel put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. "You lied to your father!"

"I didn't exactly lie," Kurt replied.

"Then what did you do?" Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I didn't tell him they were going to be there—I just didn't tell him they weren't going to be," Kurt replied. "What did you want me to do? He didn't want six teenagers going alone to New York City and didn't want you guys to go without me."

Rachel sighed. "Just so you know, I do not approve."

"But you're not going to tell him," Kurt said, smirking.

"Of course not; I want you to go just as much as you want to go," Rachel replied, huffing.

"Well, now that that's settled, how are things going with you and Quinn," Kurt asked.

"Things are going very well," Rachel replied.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Don't make me interrogate you for details."

"There isn't a lot to say," Rachel said, shrugging. "We've been trying to keep a low profile this week since it feels like everyone in the school is watching us right now."

"Understandable," Kurt said, nodding.

"How are things at home?" Rachel asked.

Kurt sighed. "Things are very tense, as you can imagine. I told my dad and Carole what he did and neither of them were very happy about it and now he's angry with me for telling them, but I don't really care if he's not talking to me because I wasn't talking to him first." Kurt shook his head. "I still can't understand why he would do that to Quinn. With Santana, I could almost see how it happened—he was angry and it was in the heat of the moment. With Quinn, though, he planned it and knew exactly what he was doing. Right now, I am ashamed to call him my stepbrother and I think it's going to take a miracle to forgive him."

"I'm sorry things have gotten so bad at home," Rachel said.

"It's not your fault, so don't apologize for it," Kurt replied. "He should have handled the breakup with a little more dignity and not become a gigantic ass. I know he was hurting because of it, but that's when you eat a pint of ice cream and have a good cry while watching depressing movies. Or whatever the guy version of that is."

"Strip club?" Rachel asked.

Kurt scrunched his face in disgust. "Probably—we can ask Puck when we see him."

Rachel laughed softly. "Can you please tell Blaine to be ready at 7am sharp on Monday morning? It's a ten hour drive, so I want us to get on the road as early as possible."

"I will be sure to let him know," Kurt said with a nod.

"Good, now we just need to hope the next few days pass by quickly," Rachel said, smiling.

* * *

><p>"Do you really need all this stuff?" Quinn asked, gesturing to Rachel's bed.<p>

Rachel looked at where Quinn was staring and frowned. She didn't see what the issue was; yes her bed was a little full at the moment, but she always tried to be prepared for any event that might come up. That usually meant packing a little more than what most people would consider normal, but it wasn't _that_ much.

"I don't see a problem," Rachel said, shrugging.

"I just don't see how you're going to fit all of this in your suitcase," Quinn stated. "Or how that luggage is going to fit in the minivan. You have to keep in mind that there are six of us and we're all going to bring stuff. Also, I don't imagine Kurt is a light packer and I know Santana isn't, so you might have to leave some of this behind."

Rachel sighed, looking at the bed. "I guess I can leave a few of the clothes behind."

"Good, because I really don't think you need three jackets," Quinn replied, laughing.

"But what if it gets really cold," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I know you," Quinn said, staring at her. "You've probably checked the weather channel every day, which means you know what the weather is going to be like."

Rachel sighed. "Fine, I'll only bring one jacket.

"It's a start," Quinn said, throwing two of the jackets off the bed and sitting down where they were laying. "Now, take a break and come over here."

"But I need to pack," Rachel said, stomping her foot.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "You have all night."

"We leave a 7am, which means I need to be up by five so I can do my morning routine," Rachel replied. "I need to make sure I'm in bed at a decent hour, so I don't fall asleep at the wheel tomorrow and kill us all."

Quinn laughed. "I don't think that is going to happen; besides, any of the rest of us can drive if you get too tired and feel like you cannot safely drive any longer."

"You're mocking me, aren't you?" Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No—maybe," Quinn said, smiling. "Just come here, please?"

Rachel shook her head, smiling, and walked toward Quinn. The blonde wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist the moment she was within reach and pulled her the rest of the way. Rachel leaned down just as Quinn leaned up and their lips connected. Quinn ran her hand along Rachel's cheek and grabbed the back of her neck with her other hand, pulling Rachel forward. Rachel stumbled a bit, nearly falling on top of Quinn, but the other girl didn't seem to mind. Instead, she pulled her even closer, so Rachel was lying on top of Quinn.

"Have you even packed at all," Rachel asked, pulling her lips away from Quinn's.

"Of course," Quinn said, attaching her mouth to Rachel's neck and sucking gently.

"You haven't, have you?!" Rachel said, trying to push Quinn away.

Quinn sighed. "I'll be packed, I promise."

"We really need to leave on time tomorrow morning or it's going to throw my whole schedule off," Rachel said.

"I promise, Rach, we will leave on time," Quinn said, smiling at her. "I will pack as soon as I get home."

"You swear?" Rachel asked.

"I swear," Quinn replied.

Quinn leaned forward again, kissing her way up Rachel's neck and along her jaw line to her lips. When she got to her destination, she traced her tongue along the brunette's lips.

"Okay, you have got to stop distracting me," Rachel said, pulling away, and jumping off the bed.

Quinn sighed and laid down on the bed and Rachel tilted her head, watching Quinn in amusement. Considering what all her past boyfriends had said, the blonde was a lot more affectionate than Rachel thought she would be. Not that she was complaining; she quite enjoyed seeing this side of her girlfriend.

"If you help me get packed, I might be able to find the time to get distracted," Rachel said.

Quinn's head rose. "Really?"

Rachel shrugged. "Really."

"Give me that suitcase," Quinn said, holding her hands out.

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are always appreciated and keep me motivated…which I could really use right now, so please take the time to leave one.<strong>


	25. We Went For A Ride, Part 1

**Okay, first I'm sorry it's been a month since I last posted, but this semester is going to be the death of me. I don't seem to have that much free time and it's been really hard trying to write at work. Luckily this weekend was fall break, so I've been able to get caught back up a little and finally finished this chapter. **

**Also, their whole spring break was supposed to be in one chapter, but I decided I wanted to include a lot more than originally planned, so I split it into two chapters.**

**miralinda: Yep, I play a priest and have my own guild; luckily it is now 90, so I can stop spending all my free time leveling.**

**thatskarma: Thank you; I can't stand when they get together so quickly in stories because it's very unrealistic to me. I'm glad you are enjoying the story and don't find too many faults in my grammar and spelling ;)**

**Enjoy…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25 – We Went For A Ride, Part 1<strong>

"Stop that right now!" Rachel said, glancing into the review mirror.

"Stop what?" Santana asked, sounding all too innocent.

"I can hear the smacking, you know," Rachel said, huffing. "I told you there will be no making out in the backseat while the rest of us have to listen."

"Maybe if you would let me drive, we wouldn't have this problem," Santana replied and Rachel swore she could hear the other girl smirking even if she couldn't actually see her at the moment.

"This is my fathers' car and I will be the only one driving it for the duration of this road trip," Rachel replied.

The truth was, she didn't care about the minivan and she hated driving, but she trusted herself enough to get them to New York in one piece. Anytime Quinn was in a car, it made Rachel nervous, so she wasn't about to spend ten hours in a car with someone other than her behind the wheel. She just wished Santana would stop distracting her by making out with Brittany in the back or trying to come up front to change the radio station.

"I have to pee," Brittany announced a few seconds later.

"We just stopped fifteen minutes ago!" Kurt said rather loudly.

"What's your point, Hummel? Santana asked.

"My point is she should have gone when the rest of us did," Kurt replied.

"But I didn't have to pee then," Brittany stated.

"Stop at the next place," Santana demanded.

"But—"

"Shut it, Hummel," Santana interrupted.

"Everyone please calm down," Blaine softly said. "Let's stop one more time; we can all use the restroom and make sure we get something to eat and drink so we don't have to stop again for a while."

Rachel sighed and looked beside her, at Quinn; her girlfriend just raised her eyebrow and Rachel knew it was a look saying 'I warned you'. They had been on the road for two hours, but they had barely driven sixty miles. First, Santana demanded to get breakfast before they left Lima even though Rachel asked everyone to make sure they ate before she picked them up. Kurt had been drinking coffee, so he made them stop at a gas station a bit later, complaining that his bladder was going to burst if they didn't. The third and fourth time they stopped was also Santana's doing; the first was when she realized she forgot her headphones at home and wanted to stop to buy some, and the other time she had to go to the bathroom. Rachel had fought Santana in the beginning, but she was quickly learning that arguing with her was futile.

"Okay, one last stop, but then we have to make up for last time, so no more stop for a while," Rachel said and Quinn laughed lightly beside her.

"Good luck with that," Quinn mumbled when she was done laughing.

"Look, there's an exit," Blaine said, pointing straight ahead, and Rachel put her turn signal on, taking the exit.

"Turn left," Kurt instructed.

"Turn right," Santana said a few moments later.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Does it really matter where we go?"

"Yes," Santana and Kurt said in unison.

Rachel looked to her right and raised her eyebrows at Quinn. "Where would you like to go?"

Santana scoffed. "Just because you're doing her, it doesn't mean she should get to decide everything."

Rachel blushed. "Okay, first of all, not that is any of your business, but I am not 'doing' anyone. Secondly, do you have to be so crude?"

"Maybe that's your problem, you need to get laid," Santana replied.

Rachel ignored Santana's comment and turned left; she could hear the other girl huff, but she didn't care if Santana was annoyed with her right now. After driving a few minutes down the road, she pulled into the first gas station she came across. It was run down and looked as if you would catch something just by looking at it, but she didn't want to turn around and have Santana gloat that she had been right.

Almost before the van had come to a complete stop, Brittany already had the door open and was half jogging, half skipping to the building. Rachel looked back and noticed Kurt giving a look of distaste, but he made no verbal complaints. Blaine, Santana, and Kurt all got out of the van while Quinn and Rachel stayed behind.

"Having fun yet?" Quinn asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I should have listened to you; at this rate, we'll make it to New York City just in time to turn around and drive back to Lima."

Quinn smiled. "It's not _that_ bad."

"Sixty-three miles," Rachel stated. "We left Lima over two hours ago."

"I know you have everything planned out, but try to relax," Quinn said, reaching over the console and putting her hand on Rachel's.

Rachel sighed. "I just want to get there; there's so much I want you guys to see."

"We'll get there." Quinn squeezed her hand. "You're with your friends, though, so try not to worry about how long it takes and just enjoy the trip."

"I'm being irrational, aren't I?" Rachel asked.

"If you think you're going to get there on time with Santana in the car, yes," Quinn replied, laughing.

* * *

><p>Rachel was spinning with her arms out to her sides. She could hear Quinn laughing, but she didn't care; she was finally back in the city she loved and she couldn't be happier. It hadn't even been a year since she was thrown back to Lima, but in ways it felt like a lot longer. In the past, her senior year went by quickly because she was so focused on her future; now she was focused on her future, but in a completely different way. It was a lot more stressful trying to change her future than it was when she was just waiting to live it.<p>

"We're here," Kurt said, sounding breathless.

"And it only took us fourteen hours," Rachel said, narrowing her eyes in Santana's direction.

"We're here now and that's all that matters," Kurt said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Is she still bitching?" Santana yelled from a few yards away.

Rachel rolled her eyes, ignoring Santana. "You're right, Kurt."

"Of course I'm right," Kurt replied, guiding her toward where Blaine and Quinn were standing. "Now that we've spent the requisite time in Times Square, I'm famished."

"Can we go to the zoo?" Brittany asked, happily skipping over and dragging Santana behind her.

"I don't think the zoo is open this late," Quinn replied.

"Are you hungry, though?" Rachel asked. "Kurt wants to eat."

Brittany nodded. "Can we go to the zoo tomorrow?"

Rachel looked at Santana, who raised an eyebrow at her. "We'll see."

"So, where would everyone like to eat?" Blaine asked.

"Oh!" Rachel said, clapping her hands in excitement. "I know the perfect place! There's this amazing little Italian place a few subway stops away. They have the best pizza and lasagna."

Santana looked at her skeptically. "How the hell do you know that?"

"My fathers and I go to it every time we're here," Rachel quickly lied.

In reality she and Kurt had stumbled across it one winter night; they were trying to get to a different restaurant, but they had gotten lost along the way and they were both so hungry and cold that they abandoned their search and went into the first place they saw. That place became their favorite restaurant in the city and she had spent the last eight months missing her and Kurt's weekly lunch dates at it. It was one of the places she wanted to take her friends the most and she figured this was as good a time as any.

"Whatever, just as long as it's not that disgusting vegan crap you eat," Santana said, shrugging.

"While they have plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, I can assure you that they have more than that," Rachel replied. "Although, Santana, have you even tried vegan food because I find it hard to believe that every bit of it is disgusting."

"She's right," Quinn interjected. "Some of it's good."

Santana rolled her eyes and then smirked, making a whipping motion at Quinn. Quinn just raised her eyebrow and tilted her head toward Brittany, wiping the smirk off Santana's face.

"Can I get one of those?" Brittany asked, watching a little boy walk by with Statue of Liberty foam crown on his head. "San, we can both get one!"

"Sure, B," Santana replied, not looking very happy about it.

Rachel put her hand over her mouth, trying to hold back the giggle that was threatening to escape. Santana clearly noticed, though, and narrowed her eyes at Rachel.

"Oh look, t-shirts!" Brittany said, grabbing her girlfriend's hand, and pulling her away.

Blaine chuckled. "Poor Santana."

Quinn laughed. "That's what she gets for calling _me_ whipped."

"She is definitely in no place to call anyone else whipped," Kurt said, watching Brittany and Santana in amusement as the blonde started holding up various shirts in front of the other girl.

"How long do you think they are going to be?" Kurt asked just as his stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone to hear it.

"Not long," Blaine said, rubbing Kurt's arm.

"Especially if we decide to be nice and save Santana," Rachel said.

"I think I can wait a little longer," Kurt replied, smirking.

Rachel knew it was probably payback for what the other girl did in the van. She had threatened to shove him out if he sung along to anymore show tunes. Kurt had scoffed and ignored her; instead of making good on her threat, Santana lunged forward in her seat, messing up Kurt's hair. Rachel would almost swear her ears were stilling ringing from his shrieks.

Santana and Brittany walked back over, but now they were sporting matching I Love NY shirts. Rachel couldn't help but smile at the sight; she grabbed her camera from her purse and looked around for someone that didn't look like they would run off with it. Nearby was a family that looked like tourists, so Rachel walked over to them.

"Excuse me," Rachel said, smiling at the mother. "Would you care to take a picture of us?"

The woman smiled back a reached out to take the camera. "Sure."

"Thank you," Rachel said, turning around to her friends. "Come on! Let's get a group picture."

Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand, pulling her to stand next to her. Kurt was on her other side with Blaine next to him and Santana was on Quinn's right, sandwiched between the two blondes in the group. After a moment, Quinn wrapped her arm around Rachel's waist, pulling her closer. When the flash went off, Rachel was smiling widely at her girlfriend instead of looking at the camera.

* * *

><p>"Ducks!" Brittany yelled, running toward the pond, and pulling Santana along with her.<p>

Rachel smiled, watching her friends. "What is Brittany's fascination with ducks?"

Quinn laughed and shook her head. "She says one saved her life when she was six."

"Excuse me?" Rachel asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Apparently her family went on vacation and stayed in a cabin next to a lake," Quinn began. "She says she snuck out in the middle of the night to go for a swim, but she didn't know how to swim, so she nearly drowned. "She says a duck came along and pulled her out of the water." Quinn glanced at Rachel. "I know it's unbelievable, but she swears it happened, so I've never tried to point out the flaws in her story."

"Like how would a duck pull a person out of the water?" Rachel asked.

"Exactly," Quinn said with a laugh.

"I know she isn't unintelligent—far from it—but she sees the world in such a different way than the rest of us," Rachel said, smiling softly as she watched the blonde. "Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be her—to see the world in a happier light."

"Because you're such a pessimist," Quinn said, smiling wryly.

"Fine, yes, I am generally an optimistic person, but I still see the bad in the world; I simply choose to ignore it or give people the benefit of the doubt," Rachel replied.

"Come on, guys!" Brittany yelled. "Help me feed the ducks!"

Rachel just laughed lightly and shook her head; as soon as she remembered that Central Park had several bodies of water, Brittany had insisted on buying a loaf of bread before they came. Originally she wanted to buy them doughnuts because it was morning and doughnuts were better for breakfast, but Rachel suggested a loaf of bread instead. She didn't know if ducks could get hyped up on sugar, but if they could, it wasn't something she was prepared to be around.

"Let's go feed the ducks," Rachel said, turning around, and reaching out for Quinn's hand.

"Kurt and Blaine are going to be disappointed they missed all the fun," Quinn joked as she entwined her fingers with Rachel's.

Rachel and Quinn walked toward the pond where the ducks were swarming in the water near Brittany. Santana appeared to be throwing whole slices of bread in the water just to watch the animals fight over it, but Brittany was tearing hers up into reasonable sized pieces. She smiled and handed a slice to Rachel and then reached back into the bag and pulled out another to give to Quinn.

"Can we go to the zoo after this?" Brittany asked.

"I don't think we have time today," Rachel replied and Brittany instantly looked a little less happy than she had the moment before. "We'll try to go tomorrow morning, though, okay?"

"Liar," Quinn whispered.

"Kurt and Blaine are going to meet us here soon and then we're going for brunch," Rachel said, ignoring Quinn.

Santana pulled her phone out. "I have to meet someone at one."

"You didn't tell me that," Rachel said, alarmed that carefully drawn out plans were going to have to change. "What do you have to do at that time?"

"I am taking a tour of NYU," Santana replied with a shrug.

"Did you apply there?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe," Santana said, smirking.

"She applied a while ago," Brittany added. "You know, since you're coming here and Quinn's going to be close."

"Really?" Rachel asked, her eyebrows raising in amusement.

"No," Santana quickly replied.

"Yes it is," Brittany said, ignoring the look Santana was giving her. "That's what you told me."

Quinn started laughing and Santana scowled at her. "Excuse me, but didn't you also apply to NYU."

"So," Quinn said when she stopped laughing.

"Why did _you_ want to come to New York?" Santana asked, smirking.

Quinn blushed. "It doesn't matter."

"You applied to NYU?" Rachel softly said, smiling at her girlfriend.

"I applied to quite a few schools," Quinn said, shrugging. "I knew you would be here and that Kurt would probably be as well, and I thought it might be nice to be near people I knew."

"You mean you thought it would be nice to be near Berry," Santana interjected.

"Be nice, San," Brittany said, lightly hitting her girlfriend's arm. "You're making Quinn turn all red."

"You were really going to come here for me?" Rachel asked, turning to look at Quinn.

Quinn slowly nodded.

"That's so sweet," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around Quinn's neck, and pulling her closer.

"If you two start making out, I'm going to throw up," Santana said, grabbing each of them by the arm, and pulling them away from each other.

"Oh no, it looks like we're too late," Kurt said, walking up hand-in-hand with Blaine. "We leave you alone for an hour and Santana is already manhandling you."

"I'm out of bread; are we going to lunch now?" Brittany asked.

"Brunch," Rachel corrected.

"What's that?" Brittany asked.

"I'll explain it on the way," Santana said, smiling at the blonde as she linked their arms together.

* * *

><p>Kurt stretched his legs out on the bed and turned to Rachel, propping his head up on his hand. "We need to have some girl talk; I feel like we haven't really been alone together in weeks and it makes me feel like a terrible friend."<p>

"It's understandable," Rachel said, shrugging a shoulder. "You're busy with Blaine and I've been busy with Quinn."

"And how are things going with you two?" Kurt asked. "I know I asked last week, but really, how are things?"

"Things are rather perfect at the moment," Rachel replied, smiling to herself.

"Really?" Kurt asked.

"Really," Rachel said, smiling wider.

"It's just—Quinn has always been closed off and I was afraid that would become an issue for you two," Kurt said, furrowing his brows.

"She hasn't been, though," Rachel softly said. "It was a problem when we started becoming friends, but since then, she's been very good about talking to me. Obviously she doesn't tell me everything, but I've learned not to push her so much and to trust her to come to me when she's ready."

Kurt smiled. "You're happy."

"I am," Rachel replied. "Happier than I've been in a very long time."

"Good because I can threaten Finn when he's a jerk to you, but I don't think I can do the same to Quinn," Kurt said with a laugh.

"You threatened Finn?" Rachel asked, laughing as well.

"Maybe once or twice," Kurt replied, lightly shrugging.

"I thought you didn't condone violence," Rachel said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"I didn't threaten violence," Kurt replied. "I did, however, threaten to hide his video games where he would never find them."

Rachel laughed loudly. "Yes, I don't think that would work on Quinn."

Kurt turned, laying down on his back; he stared at the ceiling of their hotel room for a few moments before turning his head to look at Rachel again. She could tell he wanted to ask her something; it was the look he always had when he was worried about something and wanted her opinion on the matter. After being friends with him for nearly half her life, she had learned to read him better than anyone else. She knew something had been on his mind lately since, for the most part, he had been quieter than normal.

"Do you think Blaine is happy?" Kurt finally asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said, shrugging.

"He's been so—sullen lately," Kurt said, his forehead creasing slightly.

"Have you asked him about it?" Rachel wondered.

"Of course," Kurt replied. "He usually says nothing is wrong, though, so I drop it, but I know him well enough to know that something _is_ wrong. I just wish he would tell me; I love him and if something is wrong, I want to know so we can fix it."

"Maybe he's worried," Rachel said, knowing that this was when Kurt and Blaine's problems started in the past.

"What does he have to be worried about?" Kurt asked.

"Well, we will be graduating before we know it and Blaine isn't," Rachel replied. "You're going to live here and he's going to be in Lima for another year. Maybe he's worried about how that is going to affect your relationship. Long distance relationships are not known for being easy, so reassure him; let him know there's still going to be a place for him in your life."

"He knows he's the only one for me and even if I am in New York, I still want to be with him," Kurt asked, shaking his head. "How could he think otherwise?"

"Maybe I'm completely off base, but he has been a little off during this trip, so I'm simply guessing that maybe this is the problem," Rachel replied.

Kurt sighed. "I'll try to talk to him tonight; you and Quinn are going to Wicked—which I'm completely jealous of by the way—and Brittany was talking about taking Santana to the park to feed the ducks again, which will give us some alone time. Maybe Blaine and I can go to a nice restaurant and I can get him to open up."

Kurt turned around, looking at the clock. "Didn't Quinn say they would be here by now?"

Rachel grabbed her phone and frowned at the time. "If they're not back soon, they're going to miss the tour of NYADA!"

"Relax, hon, I'm sure Brittany or Santana sidetracked them," Kurt said, patting Rachel's arm. "Blaine and Quinn wouldn't miss the tour and you know that."

Rachel took a deep breath. "You're right; I'm going to call Quinn to see how close they are."

"Good," Kurt said, sitting up, and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Now, I have to get to ready; this is going to be our future school and I need to look fabulous."

Rachel laughed, shaking her head at her friend. He shut the bathroom door just as she heard the rest of her friends coming through the hallway. The door clicked and Quinn walked into the room looking annoyed; judging by the look on Santana's face, she was the one that her girlfriend was annoyed at.

Rachel looked at Santana for a moment and then turned to Quinn. "So, how was the tour of NYU?" Quinn didn't say anything, but turned and scowled at Santana. "That good, huh?" Rachel sighed. "You can tell me on the way."

* * *

><p>Rachel was nearly skipping down the street; she was holding hands with Quinn and swinging their hands between them. This wasn't the first or even the second time she had seen Wicked—she stopped counting after the seventh time—but it was also just as amazing as the first time she saw it. She mouthed every word along with the actors on stage and had to resist singing the songs out loud. She and Kurt habitually watched the movie based on the musical, but the movie would never be as good as seeing it live. She did enjoy being able to sing along to the movie, though, which, of course, she and Kurt always did.<p>

"Did you enjoy it?" Quinn asked, giving her an amused smile.

"It was amazing!" Rachel replied

She always felt like she was on a high after she went to the theater; she didn't know what it was—the singing, the atmosphere, being surrounded by so many other theater lovers—but she always came out feeling different. She had expected to lose that feeling, but even after being on stage for years, she still felt the same way at the end of every night. Whether she was up there herself or in the audience, nothing compared to that feeling of euphoria.

"Did you like it?" Rachel asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts, and realizing Quinn hadn't said anything about it.

The blonde smiled to herself. "It was amazing—although I was slightly distracted during it."

"By what?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"By you," Quinn said, coming to a stop, and halting Rachel as well. The blonde smiled and shook her head slightly. "You were just so excited and trying not to sing along—it was adorable."

Rachel felt herself blushing. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Quinn said, laughing lightly.

"But you paid for the tickets and then I was distracting you and—"

"I'm sure we can see it again," Quinn interrupted, smiling at the brunette. "After all, you are going to be living here in less than a year and I'll only be a train ride away."

"Does that mean you'll come visit me?" Rachel asked, trying to hide her smile.

"I supposed that depends," Quinn replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"And what does it depend on?" Rachel asked, playing along.

"Oh, you know—all kinds of things," Quinn said, giving her a lopsided smile.

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "You don't know, do you?"

"Nope, not a clue," Quinn said, shaking her head, and laughing.

Rachel smiled to herself and tugged gently on Quinn's arm so she would start walking with her again. She liked seeing Quinn like this—happy, playful, content; it was something she never got to see in the past. It was also something she would never have guessed she needed in her life, but here she was, and she couldn't imagine life without Quinn in it even though that's how she spent the last eleven years of her life.

"What?" Quinn asked, looking at Rachel out of the corner of her eye.

"I was thinking about how I wish you showed more people this side of your personality," Rachel answered, glancing in Quinn's direction.

Quinn cocked her eyebrow. "And what side is that?"

"The one where you joke and flirt and seem happy," Rachel replied. "Not that I don't enjoy all your sides, but everyone generally sees your serious side and nothing more. Actually, I think most of the other students at McKinley are still afraid of you."

"Well, for most of high school I've pretended to be everyone but myself, so I couldn't let them see anyone but the bitchy head cheerleader," Quinn said, running her thumb along Rachel's palm. "Then I got pregnant and that fell apart for a while." Quinn shook her head and sighed. "I've never trusted anyone other than Brittany and Santana enough to let them really see anything but who I was pretending to be. For once, though, I think I finally like who I am."

"That's good because I like who you are as well," Rachel said, smiling.

"Always a plus," Quinn said, laughing.

* * *

><p>"Wait!"<p>

"What?" Rachel said, nearly barreling into Kurt, who was right in front of her and abruptly stopped the moment Brittany yelled.

"We didn't go to the zoo!" Brittany said, looking around.

Rachel sighed; she had really hoped Brittany would forget about the zoo, but it didn't appear she was going to be lucky enough for that to happen. She really wanted to get out of the city early and be on their way to New Haven, but judging by the look Santana was giving her, that wasn't going to happen.

"Okay, we can go to the Central Park Zoo, but we can only stay there for a few hours, okay?" Rachel responded.

"But I want to go to the other one," Brittany said, pouting in Santana's direction.

Rachel fought the urge to roll her eyes because she didn't want Santana yelling at her in the middle of the hotel lobby. She knew Brittany well enough to know the blonde wasn't stupid; she just knew how to get her way and that way was usually through Santana. If she pouted, Santana would make whatever she wanted happen, and she was using it to her full advantage right now.

"What zoo would you like to go to, Brittany?" Blaine asked.

"The Bronx Zoo," Brittany answered.

"You heard her," Santana said, continuing on, and dragging hers and Brittany's luggage behind her.

"Breathe," Kurt said, rubbing Rachel's back, and she did as she was told.

She had this tripped fully planned out and Santana was completely throwing off her entire schedule, but arguing with her was completely useless. She might be friends with the other girl now, but she was ready to strangle her and Rachel was far from a violent person. Finn always complained about how uptight she got while they were on vacation and there was some truth to that. She always liked to be prepared and have every moment planned to maximize their time, but that usually meant she would get frazzled when anything threw those plans off.

"We'll be out in a second," Quinn said, glancing at Kurt, effectively dismissing him.

"We should really go," Rachel said, trying to leave, but Quinn gently placed her hand on the brunette's arm, stopping her

"Rach, can I see your itinerary," Quinn requested.

"It's in my bag," Rachel said, pulling it from her shoulder, and pulling out her pink notebook.

When she handed the notebook to Quinn, the blonde opened it, finding the list of things they were supposed to do and at what time they were supposed to do them. It took up several pages of the notebook and Quinn smiled slightly, glancing up at Rachel for a moment. She then pulled the pages out and handed the rest of the notebook back to Rachel.

"What did you do that for!?" Rachel asked, sounding slightly hysterical.

Quinn ignored her and instead of answering her, she turned the front desk and strode over to it. Rachel was right behind her with her mouth still hanging open in horror, but Quinn didn't seem to notice—or at least she didn't seem to care.

"Can you do me a favor?" Quinn asked the young man behind the desk.

"Anything," the boy said all too quickly.

"Will you shred this?" Quinn asked, handing the itinerary over.

The desk clerk nodded vigorously. "Right away."

Rachel stomped her foot as she watched the guy walk away with her carefully made plans in his hands. "I can't believe you did that!"

"We're on spring break," Quinn stated, resting her right hand on Rachel's waist. "Everything will be okay even if every second of the day isn't planned. Besides, this way Santana can't mess your plans up and you can stop being so stressed out about everything."

Rachel sighed in exasperation but nodded. "I still don't appreciate you destroying that, though."

Quinn softly laughed. "I know, but it was the only way."

"You're not going to destroy my travel books next, are you?" Rachel asked, leaning her head on Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn smiled and kissed the top of Rachel's head. "Those you can keep."

* * *

><p><strong>Hopefully you all enjoyed that. As always, comments are appreciated.<strong>


	26. We Went For A Ride, Part 2

**SalGersGirl: Your review made me laugh, so thank you for that.**

**lostsunsets: Thank you! I'm glad you found this story and are enjoying it.**

**Nathalie: I..holy crap that was a long review! Interesting theory, but as you probably can guess, I won't say anything more. Although, it does sound like you would enjoy Chosen, my other Faberry story.**

**Thank you to everyone else that reviewed, but I'll shut up now so you can read the update. **

**Enjoy…**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 26 – We Went For A Ride, Part 2<strong>

Rachel drove down the interstate, fighting the urge to put her foot down and go faster. Thanks to Brittany's insistence on going to the zoo, they had gotten a much later start than Rachel had anticipated. She tried hurrying the blonde along, but it was impossible when the girl wanted to stop at every exhibit, and Santana glowered at her every time she opened her mouth to say something. Rachel mostly gave up trying to get out of the city at a reasonable hour, but she did put her foot down when Brittany tried to stay at the tiger exhibit for thirty minutes, wanting the cats to come closer.

"I have to pee," Brittany suddenly stated.

Rachel closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. "We will be in New Haven in twenty minutes; do you think you can wait that long, Brittany?"

"I don't know," Brittany replied

Rachel sighed quietly, knowing what that meant. "We'll stop at the next exit."

Quinn reached over, giving Rachel's leg a squeeze, and the brunette turned to smile at her girlfriend. Rachel was completely aware that she was high strung, but Quinn seemed to be able to calm her like no one else ever had. The blonde was always patient with her and didn't make her feel bad for her personality. Normally she would have been angry if anyone had done what Quinn did, but she wasn't even mad with the other girl for shredding her itinerary—well, not for more than a few seconds, anyway.

The next exit was coming up, so Rachel put on her turn signal and reduced her speed, taking the exit. She turned left toward the first gas station she saw and as soon as the car pulled in and came to a stop, Brittany had thrown the door open. Santana got out as well, but far less quickly; Kurt and Blaine got out, stretching, and Quinn looked at Rachel.

"Come on." Quinn nodded toward the gas station and gave Rachel a small smile.

Rachel opened the door, stepping out of the car just as Quinn walked around to join her. The blonde reached out, entwining their fingers together, and tugging Rachel, indicating that she wanted her to follow. Rachel did as Quinn wanted, without question, and started walking, hand-in-hand toward the sidewalk. She looked over her shoulder, worried that the keys were still in her fathers' minivan, but the rest of their friends were just inside, so she hoped it would be okay.

"May I ask where we are going?" Rachel asked, looking toward Quinn.

"I just thought we could use a walk," Quinn said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay," Rachel said, falling silent again, simply happy to be walking with her girlfriend.

She loved that they could have moments like this—moments when she was content and didn't feel the need to fill the silence with conversation. The only other person she had really been able to do that with was Kurt; they could sit in a room, simply enjoying being around one other. Granted that didn't happen very often because they both loved to talk, but it had happened on occasion, and it was never awkward. She wished she could say it had been the same way with Finn, but that was really never the case; for some reason, she always felt like she needed to try to keep the conversation going with him.

They had been walking for a few minutes when Rachel heard Quinn's phone vibrating in her in her pocket. The blonde seemed to be ignoring it, though, so Rachel ignored it as well. Another minute went by and Rachel heard the buzzing again; this time, she looked at Quinn, smiling.

"Are you going to see who that is?" Rachel asked.

"I know who that is," Quinn replied. "It's Santana, asking where we are—except she probably said it in much more colorful terms than that."

"Maybe we should turn around before she comes looking for us," Rachel suggested.

Quinn sighed, but stopped, and then turned around, walking in the direction they had just come from.

Rachel giggled, giving the blonde's hand a squeeze. "You don't seem very excited about going back."

"Are you excited about spending another twenty minutes in the car with Santana?" Quinn asked.

"Touché," Rachel replied. "At least we're almost there, though. Aren't you excited about seeing Yale for the first time?"

"I guess." Quinn shrugged.

"Are you nervous?" Rachel wondered.

"A bit," Quinn admitted. "I think it's a nervous excitement, though. I mean—this is where I'm going to be for a while and I guess I'm just worried. You know—what if I don't like it?"

"Then you will go someplace you do like," Rachel said simply. "I am confident you will love it, though, but if not, I'm sure any school would love to have you. You did get into Yale after all; that's a lot more than most people can say."

Quinn smiled to herself. "You always sound so sure about everything."

"That's because I know I'm right," Rachel said, giving a cheeky smile.

Quinn shook her head, but was smiling widely nevertheless. "Oh look—Santana looks angry."

Rachel looked away from Quinn and toward the gas station; sure enough, the other girl didn't look very happy. "But she's been such a ray of sunshine on this trip."

Quinn threw her head back and laughed; Rachel smiled at the sound, still not quite used to seeing the blonde this relaxed or happy—and definitely not used to being the cause of it.

"Come on," Quinn said, rubbing her thumb along Rachel's hand. "The faster we go, the faster we get this over with."

"Wasn't the walk your idea?" Rachel noted.

"You and your details," Quinn said, shaking her head

* * *

><p>Rachel looked around in awe of the place Quinn was going to be spending the next four years of her life. NYADA was impressive, but even Rachel had to admit that Yale was even more impressive than her own school. It was the classic image of a university with its amazing architecture and students walking about campus. She had already walked past two students in a heated discussion about something—she didn't know what they were talking about, but she was pretty sure she heard the word 'existential' said by one of the them. Rachel considered herself to be intelligent, but the students here were on a whole other level.<p>

"Congrats, Q, you managed to pick a school full of people who are even bigger dorks than you," Santana said, smirking as she looked around.

Two girls and a guy were passing by; all three narrowed their eyes at her and Santana cocked her eyebrow, staring back at them. "What the hell are you looking at?"

"Ignore her," Kurt said, waving them on.

"Santana, please," Quinn said, grabbing the other girl's arm , pulling her toward her, and away from the group of students; her cheeks were tinged pink, clearly embarrassed by her friend's behavior. "In case you forgot, I do have to come back here and I don't want people recognizing me as the girl with the rude friend."

Santana got a glint in her eyes and her smirk grew even more. "Well, in that case, Q, why don't I just—"

"San," Brittany interrupted, frowning at her girlfriend.

Santana huffed and turned, walking away as she called over her shoulder, "I can't even have fun anymore."

"She doesn't mean it," Brittany said, watching the other girl go with a look of understanding on her face. "She's kind of sad right now."

"Why is she sad, Brittany," Blaine asked, furrowing his brows in concern.

"She's sad that everyone is going to leave soon," Brittany explained. "We're going to graduate and who knows where any of us will be or if any of us will still be friends. Santana is just afraid everyone will forget her after we graduate and she'll have no friends."

Rachel looked at Quinn, who looked back at her; the brunette put her hand on Brittany's arm and said, "We'll talk to her and hopefully make her feel better, okay?"

Brittany nodded. "I tried to tell her that you guys wouldn't do that, but I don't think she believed me."

"Don't worry about it, Britt," Quinn said, wrapping her arm around her friend. "We'll take care of it."

"Thanks," Brittany said, laying her head on Quinn's shoulder.

"Are you bitches coming?" Santana yelled, standing near the coffee cart that was about ten yards away.

Brittany giggled and skipped over to her girlfriend just as everyone in the vicinity seemed to stop what they were doing and stare at the group; Quinn narrowed her eyes, silently threatening the other girl, but Santana just winked at the blonde. Rachel shook her head as she watched the exchange; sometimes she wondered how those two ever became friends in the first place.

"Yes, she seems _so_ sad," Kurt deadpanned.

"I think Santana is one of those people who mask their true feelings by trying to appear like they don't care," Blaine said, studying the Cheerio. "Being vulgar and snarky is just her defense mechanism because she doesn't want people to know how she truly feels—she doesn't want to feel vulnerable."

"Well, we better get over there before little Miss Vulnerable starts shouting obscenities again," Kurt said, rolling his eyes as he took Blaine's hand and began walking toward Santana.

"What do you think?" Quinn asked, looking at Rachel.

"I think Blaine is probably right about—"

Quinn laughed. "Not about Santana—about Yale."

"Oh!" Rachel said, laughing lightly. "I think it's amazing."

"Yeah?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded. "It's beautiful here; the architecture is amazing." Rachel looked around before looking at Quinn and smiling. I think you will fit in perfectly."

"So—you don't think you would mind coming here to visit me, then?" Quinn asked.

"I will be happy to visit you here," Rachel said, putting her hands on Quinn's waist. "It might be nice to get away from the city for the weekend. Of course not _every_ weekend; you'll have to come see me as well, so we can go to all the Broadway shows and you can come with me to see all the things I've been dying to show you. Two days was not nearly enough time for you to see all the things I want you to see."

"I think I can manage that," Quinn said, tucking a lock of hair behind Rachel's ear.

Rachel smiled softly and leaned up on her tippy toes to capture Quinn's lips. The blonde sighed into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Rachel's back, and pulled her body closer. Rachel never thought Quinn was much for public displays of affection—at least not with any of the boys she had dated—but the other girl didn't seem to mind anymore. Maybe it was the freedom she felt from not being in Lima at the moment, but Quinn had been extra—and openly—affectionate for the last few days.

"Get a room!" Santana yelled, but Quinn only pulled Rachel closer, which was no easy feat since they were already pressed up against one another. "Okay, seriously, Q, you're going to miss your tour if you don't stop making out with Berry!"

* * *

><p>It took a while—seven hours to be exact—but the gang finally made it to Provincetown, Massachusetts. None of them had ever been there before and as they drove into town, they gawked at the number of rainbow flags they saw hanging around. Kurt seemed overjoyed by it and everyone else seemed surprised since no one but Rachel bothered researching where they were going. Rachel, however, was not surprised in the slightest; her fathers had recommended the town to her, figuring she and her friends would enjoy the place.<p>

The six friends wasted no time going to the beach; as soon as their luggage was in their hotel, they were out the door again. Rachel and Quinn were sharing a blanket, lying side by side while Rachel watched her friends. Blaine was playing in the ocean, trying to get Kurt in, but he was too worried about his hair and didn't seem to be giving in anytime soon. She honestly couldn't blame him, though; it was unseasonably warm at the moment, but the water was probably still freezing. To the left of Rachel, quite a bit away, were Santana and Brittany; Brittany was happily building a sandcastle and trying to get her girlfriend to help her, but Santana seemed more interested in sunbathing than playing in the sand.

Rachel smiled when Blaine grabbed Kurt by the arm, dragging him into the water; her friend came up sputtering while Blaine laughed loudly.

"Our friends are insane," Quinn stated.

"They are," Rachel agreed. "They're our friends, though, so what does that say about us?"

"We need better friends," Quinn said, smirking.

Rachel looked at Quinn and leaned over, giving her quick kiss. "You know you love them." Quinn sighed, but didn't deny it. "Do you think we'll ever be able to drag everyone away from the beach to go to dinner?"

"Good luck with Santana," Quinn replied, glancing at the other girl, who seemed to thoroughly be enjoying the sun.

Rachel sighed and laid back down; the other girl was being a complete pain in the ass on this trip and she wasn't ready to argue with her just yet. She wasn't overly hungry at the moment, so she could wait at least another hour before trying to get everyone off the beach.

"Maybe in a while," Rachel said, looking over at Quinn.

The blonde was looking off in the distance and Rachel followed her gaze to a little, blonde girl playing in the sand. She was probably around three or four years old and she was smiling widely at what Rachel assumed was her mother. Rachel looked at Quinn again, who had a slight frown on her face.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, putting her hand on Quinn's.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Quinn asked, averting her eyes.

"Do you ever think about her?" Rachel asked, hoping the question wouldn't be upsetting.

"Every day," Quinn whispered.

Rachel bit her lip; it was the first time they had spoken to each other about Beth in any way. It had crossed her mind on more than one occasion if she had done the right thing keeping Shelby away from Lima. At least Puck had the memories of meeting his daughter, but Quinn didn't even have that. At the time she thought it was the right thing to do, but sometimes she wondered if it really was. She managed to keep the Glee club together, but at what cost?

"Have you—" Quinn sighed and shook her head.

"Have I what?" Rachel asked, squeezing the blonde's hand.

"Do you ever talk to Shelby?" Quinn asked.

"She has called a few times and we send the occasional email to one another," Rachel answered. "We don't talk extensively, though."

"Have you seen her?" Quinn asked, and Rachel knew she wasn't talking about Shelby.

"She sent me a picture around the holidays," Rachel replied. "I didn't mention it because—well, I didn't know if you would want to know. Would you like me to show it to you?"

"Maybe later," Quinn mumbled

"Well, the offer is always there; if you would like to see it, just ask," Rachel said, giving Quinn a small smile.

Quinn nodded just as Blaine and Kurt walked over, plopping down in the sand next to them. They were both dripping wet and Kurt was trying to fix his hair so it wasn't sticking up at the sides.

"Did you have fun?" Rachel asked, laughing at Kurt.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at her, but Blaine tapped him on the shoulder. "Don't let him fool you; he had more fun than he's willing to admit."

Kurt shook his head, but then smiled and laid his head down on Blaine's shoulder. "Is anyone else hungry?"

"Me," Rachel piped up.

"Are you hungry, B?" Quinn called across to the other two girls.

"Sure," Brittany said, jumping up, and knocking her sandcastle over in her excitement.

"The trick is to not ask Santana," Quinn said, smirking. "You know whatever Brittany wants, Santana goes along with."

"And for once we can use that to our advantage," Rachel said, laughing when Santana huffed because Brittany was pulling her up.

* * *

><p>After successfully managing to talk Santana out of wearing her bikini to dinner and assuring her that the place had non-vegan food, the six headed to the restaurant Rachel wanted to try. It was a fairly nice, sit-down restaurant, so they were all dressed up and—Rachel hoped, anyway—on their best behavior.<p>

Rachel really had several theories about why Santana was behaving so badly on this trip, but she strongly suspected it was just to see her get flustered. Quinn told her several times a day to relax and Santana would stop because it wouldn't be fun anymore, but that was easier said than done when she was extra high-strung.

By the time they ordered their drinks and were waiting on them, Rachel was wearily eyeing Santana, waiting for the moment she did something else to embarrass them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kurt doing the same thing; when she glanced at him, he raised his eyebrows for a second and Rachel had to laugh. Quinn looked at her curiously, but Rachel just shrugged and smiled at the blonde.

"I want chicken fingers," Brittany announced as she stared at her menu.

"I don't think they have that here, Britt," Quinn said.

Brittany pouted. "Why not?"

"It's not that type of restaurant, hon," Blaine answered.

"Hold on," Rachel said, looking around; when she spotted their waitress, she jumped up and walked over to the young woman. "Excuse me; do you have a kid's menu?" The waitress looked a bit confused, but Rachel just smiled. "One of my friends is sort of picky about what she eats and I think she might be more likely to find something on the kid's menu that she would like to order."

The waitress nodded, now looking amused as she turned around and grabbed another menu from her station. "Here you are."

"Can I have a box of crayons as well?" Rachel asked, spotting them nearby.

"Of course," the waitress said, picking a box up.

"Thank you," Rachel said, giving her another smile, and grabbing the box before walking back to the table to join her friends.

When she walked past Brittany, she set the new menu down in front of her and the blonde smiled up at her and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Brittany," Rachel replied, sitting down in her seat.

"They have chicken fingers," Brittany happily announced after reading over the menu for only a few seconds.

"I don't understand half of this damn menu," Santana grumbled, glaring at it like it would suddenly make everything clearer to her.

"I wish I had some crayons," Brittany said as she stared of the back of her menu.

Rachel ignored Santana and smiled at the blonde, putting the box on the table. "The waitress gave these to me."

"Awesome," Brittany said, taking the box, and dumping the crayons on the table; she took a minute selecting one, but she eventually grabbed the green crayon and started working the maze on the back of the menu.

"What the hell is a caper?" Santana asked.

Kurt sighed. "They're—"

"Fuck this," Santana interrupted. "Britt, can I see your menu?"

Quinn laughed while Rachel shook her head, fighting off a smile. Her friends were insane, but they were her friends, which is more than she could say for a lot of people. Kurt had been her only constant friend in her life since high school, and Blaine to some extent, but now she was looking at five people she cared greatly for, who also cared about her even if they didn't always act like it.

"Is everything okay?" Quinn finally asked after watching her stare off into space for a few moments.

"Yes, everything is wonderful," Rachel replied, smiling at her girlfriend. "I was just thinking how lucky I am."

"This place sucks," Santana loudly said, drawing people's attention to them.

Rachel sighed. "For the most part, anyway."

* * *

><p>Rachel stretched her legs for a moment before bringing them back and wrapping her arms around them. It was chilly out, but the small bonfire was keeping her from completely freezing. She missed Quinn's warmth and kept looking over her shoulder, wondering when the blonde was going to return. She had gone into their hotel to get them something to drink, but it seemed to be taking longer than Rachel had anticipated. Just when she was about to give up on her, though, she heard footsteps approaching.<p>

"What took you so long?" Rachel asked, not bothering to turn around.

"Santana," Quinn replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Here."

"Thanks," Rachel said, taking the bottle of water from Quinn's outstretched hand.

Quinn plopped down in the sand and scooted closer to Rachel, wrapping a blanket around them. Rachel looked at her and smiled, grateful for the extra warmth.

"It's beautiful out here," Rachel said, looking up at the night sky.

"Yeah," Quinn agreed, following Rachel's gaze.

"Do you know what any of the constellations are?" Rachel asked.

Quinn laughed lightly. "No, but when I was little I made up my own names for them. I loved to look out my window at the sky; I begged my father to buy me a book that would tell me about the stars, but he told me I didn't need to fool with useless junk like astronomy." Quinn rolled her eyes. "It didn't stop me from looking at them every night, though."

Rachel smiled. "Do you remember any of your names for them?"

"A few," Quinn replied. "Do you see that one there? I called that one Simon after the cat I had at the time."

"It doesn't look very much like a cat," Rachel noted.

"No, but do any of the constellations look like what they're supposed to be?" Quinn asked.

"Touché," Rachel replied.

"That on there with the triangle on top," Quinn pointed in a completely different part of the sky, "is duck with a party hat on. If you couldn't figure it out, Brittany named that one while we were on a camping trip with the Cheerios our freshman year."

"Coach Sylvester made you camp?" Rachel asked, surprised. "That doesn't seem like an activity she would want her cheerleaders involved in."

"It was less of a camping trip and more of a survival trip," Quinn replied. "She sort of dropped us off in the middle of the woods with only a few supplies and told us that we had to be in the locker room by school the next day or we were off the squad."

"That woman is psychotic," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"Probably," Quinn said, smiling. "Are you too cold?"

"No, I'm fine," Rachel replied, laying her head on the blonde's shoulder, and sighing contentedly.

"We should probably go inside soon," Quinn said, leaning her cheek against Rachel's head. "We have a long drive tomorrow."

"Just a few more minutes," Rachel said, closing her eyes. "I'm quite enjoying being away from Santana."

Quinn laughed. "Will you be happy to be back home?"

"Yes and no," Rachel said, shrugging. "What about you?"

"I don't know—I'm nervous about it," Quinn replied.

"Why are you nervous?" Rachel asked, taking her head off the blonde's shoulder to look at her.

"I'm—I'm going to tell my mother," Quinn replied. "About us. I wanted to tell her before we left because I was afraid she would find out from someone else, but I couldn't make myself do it. Luckily she doesn't really socialize with many people anymore, so I don't think she knows yet. I'm pretty sure if she did, she would be calling me every two seconds until I answered, but she's only called to make sure we're all okay." Quinn grabbed her phone and looked at the time. "Okay, we really should go to our room and get some sleep."

"Five more minutes," Rachel said, sticking her lip out, and hoping Quinn couldn't resist her pout.

Quinn laughed and kissed her forehead. "Five more minutes."

* * *

><p>"Five more minutes," Rachel said, burying her head into what she thought was her pillow until it started shaking a bit.<p>

Quinn laughed. "That's what you said last night."

"What?" Rachel asked, raising her head, and realizing she was sleeping with her head on Quinn's chest and they were still on the beach. "What time is it?"

"Early," Quinn answered, wrapping her arms around Rachel's shoulders now that she was no longer shaking her. "We need to leave soon if we want to get home at a decent hour."

Rachel tried to jump up at the reminder, but Quinn held her in place. "What are you doing? We need to go!"

"Calm down," Quinn said, smiling at her. "I thought we could watch the sunrise before we go in."

Rachel couldn't exactly be mad that Quinn was keeping her there; it was actually very sweet that she wanted to watch the sunrise with her. So, instead of fighting it, she put her head back down and looked out at the ocean, where the sun was about to come over the horizon. Sighing in contentment, she snuggled closer, and tried to ignore the fact that she was freezing to death since their fire apparently went out sometime in the middle of the night.

"Are you cold?" Quinn asked, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," Rachel replied, trying to not shiver.

"Liar," Quinn said, laughing.

"Fine, I am a little cold, but it's nothing I can't manage," Rachel replied, huffing.

She had once stood outside for hours in practically blizzard conditions; Kurt had dragged her there for some protest—it had been so long ago that she couldn't even remember what they were protesting, but she did remember how miserable she was. She was honestly surprised she didn't get frostbite, which she kept swearing to Kurt they were both going to get if they stayed out there any longer. Really, though, after that, this was nothing; she could handle being chilly as long as Quinn's arms were wrapped around her.

It was odd thinking of her old life and her new life; things were so very different and the closer she got to graduation, the more she wondered how her life was going to turn out. Obviously her biggest fear was not being able to save Quinn, but she also feared what would happen if she did save her. If she saved Quinn, was she going to remain in the time or get sent back to her future? She hated the thought of not being able to live out the life she was currently experiencing. Maybe it was selfish of her to want to live her life again, but she didn't want to be back in her old body with no memory of the past ten years.

"I can hear you thinking," Quinn whispered.

Rachel smiled. "Sorry."

"Anything important?" Quinn asked.

Rachel sighed and looked into Quinn's eyes. "Not really."

Quinn nodded, but didn't really look like she believed Rachel. "Look."

Rachel turned her eyes to the horizon; the sun was finally peeking over, casting an orange glow across the water. The last time she had watched the sunrise like this, it was on her disastrous camping trip with her friends and she'd had Kurt's arm wrapped around her shoulders as she cried. This was definitely far superior to that horrendous time.

After sitting there for a few more minutes, Quinn turned to her and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Rachel gave Quinn a quick kiss and then pulled back, smiling. "Five more minutes."

* * *

><p>"I have to pee!"<p>

Rachel sighed at Brittany's announcement and didn't even respond; instead, she put on her turn signal, taking the exit they were just about to pass. She had given up any notion that they were going to get back to Lima at a decent hour and she was starting to realize it was stupid of them to come back on Sunday. They had school tomorrow, but at this rate they were going to be lucky to get home in time to go.

"Next time, leave Santana and Brittany at home," Kurt leaned up, whispering into Rachel's ear.

"I heard that, Hummel!" Santana said, reaching between the seats, and yanking him by the back of his shirt.

Kurt scowled as he tried to smooth out the fabric. "Do you mind?"

Rachel shook her head at her friends and wondered if this is what it would be like to have children—of course her children would be better behaved than this. When the van came to a complete stop, everyone except Rachel and Quinn piled out of the car, and as soon as the rest were inside, Quinn started laughing.

"May I ask what is so funny?" Rachel said, frowning in confusion.

"Our friends really are insane," Quinn replied, repeating what she had said a few days prior.

"I would have to agree with you," Rachel said, looking out the window, where Santana was standing. "I hope once she gets back to Lima she will be a little more agreeable."

"I don't think Santana is ever agreeable," Quinn replied.

"Guys!" Brittany yelled running to the van, waving a piece of paper. "We have to go to this."

"Oh no," Rachel said, putting her head on the steering wheel.

"The world's largest duck statue is only a few miles from here!" Brittany excitedly said.

Rachel took the flyer from her; sure enough, it was advertising the world's largest statue of a duck and Rachel knew there was no way she was getting out of this. "Okay, guys, if we're going to see this, we need to go right now."

Santana went into the gas station and emerged a few moments later pulling Blaine and Kurt along. As soon as they were all inside and buckled, Rachel followed the directions on the flyer; fortunately it really wasn't that far away and she easily found it. Of course, it was hard to miss a duck that was several stories high and right next to the road.

Brittany was the first one out of the van and she was dragging Santana with her; the other four sat there for a moment, looking at each other. One by one, they got out, following the two Cheerios. She was surprised to see they were not alone; there were actually several other cars there, so they were not the only six people staring up at the gigantic duck statue.

"We need to get a picture!" Brittany said, turning around, and running back to the van.

"This actually is kind of neat," Blaine said, staring up at the thing.

When Brittany came back, she approached the couple closest to them. "Can you take a picture of us with the duck?" The man nodded, looking amused, and the blonde turned to her friends. "Come on!"

Brittany walked over and stood beside Santana, wrapping her arm around her girlfriend's waist. Kurt did the same to Blaine as he laid his head on the shorter boy's shoulder. Rachel and Quinn were standing in the middle of their friends, much like they were in Time Square; this time, though, they were all smiling widely when the flash went off.

"Okay, one more," the man said, raising the camera again.

When the flash went off the second time, Quinn was looking at Rachel and smiling softly. By the time a third flash went off, Rachel and Quinn were looking at each other, completely lost in one another.

* * *

><p><strong>As far as I know, the world's largest duck statue is completely fictional.<strong>

**Also, my best friend, skittles84, just put up her very first Faberry fic and it's amazing, so go read it. It's called East & West and can be found on my profile, under my favorite stories.**

**Reviews are always appreciated!**


	27. That's the Truth

**monkeyeile: I promise I won't do that; it broke my heart when that happened, so I feel your pain.**

**EmiLoud: Well, thank you very much; it's wonderful to hear. And as for your question, I am 28 years old.**

**Sorry everyone for the long gap between updates, but school was really hectic last semester. I can't promise next semester will be any better, but I'm working on getting a few more chapters done before it starts back. Hopefully even once it does start back, though, I can keep to my writing schedule.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 27 – That's the Truth<strong>

"Are all the votes in?" Mr. Schue asked, looking around the room.

Rachel didn't think he looked very happy to be doing this, but Santana had made sure he could no longer ignore Finn's behavior. Finn had never wanted to be the Glee club's co-captain to begin with, so she didn't really know why he was sulking; he should be happy he no longer had to do it—not that he really did anything to begin with. Rachel had been the one to make the decisions for the club and Finn usually just went along with whatever she wanted.

"Okay, I'll be right back with your decision," he said when no one responded.

"Cheer up, Finny," Santana said, smirking at the football player. "Don't I remember you whining about how you were put in charge of Glee and had to listen to Berry's plans? You should be happy you acted like a complete jackass and got kicked out of your position."

Rachel could see Finn clench his jaw, but he remained quiet. It had taken him a while, but maybe he was finally learning not to let Santana bait him into saying something he would regret. If only he had done that months ago, he could have avoided this whole situation.

"Okay, guys," Mr. Schue said as he walked back into the room. "Your votes have been tallied and I am happy to announce that, by a nearly unanimous vote, Kurt is your new Glee co-captain."

Rachel looked back and Kurt smiled at her as Blaine patted his knee. She wasn't surprised and doubted anyone else was, either, since Kurt was the only one who really wanted the job. Everyone else was happy to just follow along and have fun, without having to worry about things like getting Mr. Schue to start thinking of their Nationals set list more than a day in advance of the competition. Rachel was way ahead of that, though; she and Kurt had been discussing it for several weeks and were soon going to set up rehearsals with or without their teacher's knowledge.

"Now that we have our two captains again, we can start looking toward Nationals," Mr. Schue said, clapping his hands together. "Nationals are still six weeks away, so we have some time, but I want everyone to start thinking of a theme for this year. Alright, then, I'll see you guys on Wednesday!"

There was a lot of noise as everyone grabbed their stuff to leave; a lot of people were walking up to Kurt to congratulate him, including Rachel. When she turned and noticed Quinn wasn't moving, she walked over to her; the blonde had seemed distracted all throughout Glee and she still seemed lost in her thoughts.

"Quinn?" Rachel said, waving her hand in front of the other girl's face.

Quinn averted her eyes from the spot she had been staring at and looked up at Rachel. "Sorry."

"Are you all right?" Rachel asked, taking a seat next to Quinn, who sighed but nodded, and Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Okay, I know that expression and it's not the expression of 'I'm all right'"

Quinn laughed lightly, shaking her head. "You know, sometimes I miss having a boyfriend; they were much less attentive."

"I hope you are joking, Quinn Fabray," Rachel said, putting her hands on her hips, and glaring at the blonde.

"Of course I'm joking," Quinn replied, smiling softly.

"Good," Rachel said, dropping her arms to her sides, and smiling. "Now, are you going to tell me what is wrong?"

"Will you come to dinner on Friday?" Quinn asked, glancing at her.

"Are you going to—"

"I am," Quinn interrupted. "I was kind of hoping you would be there; I don't know if that will make thing better or worse, but, well—if things go badly, at least you'll be there to help me pack. After all, they only gave me thirty minutes last time."

Rachel frowned; she knew she didn't know Quinn's mom that well, but she really didn't seem like the type of person to abandon her daughter again. It was possible that Quinn knew something and just hadn't told her—she was aware that Quinn still didn't tell her everything—but this seemed like something she would have. She wanted to promise Quinn that everything would be okay, but she knew she couldn't make that promise. So, instead, she slid her hand under Quinn's, which was resting on the blonde's thigh, and entwined their fingers together.

"If you want me to be there with you when you tell her, then of course I will be there for you," Rachel finally answered. "I told you a few weeks ago that I would be there in any way you need me to be and I meant it."

Quinn gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand. "I guess it is the least you could do; you did get me into this mess, after all."

Rachel looked at the blonde and narrowed her eyes. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Well, if you hadn't been so persistent and adorable, I could still be in denial about my feelings for you," Quinn said, smiling wider.

Rachel knew Quinn was joking, but she decided to play along and huffed. "You're blaming me?"

Quinn laughed. "I am."

"You know, just for that, I'm going to bring a boom box and sing I Kissed A Girl at the dinner table," Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest, and turning her head, trying not to let Quinn see her smile.

* * *

><p>"Okay, guys, let's try it again," Rachel said, sighing.<p>

She had been rehearsing with Quinn, Brittany, and Santana after Glee; they were working on a performance for Friday for Mr. Schue's '1960's' assignment. Brittany was trying to teach them the dance moves, she'd come up with for Daydream Believer, the song they were singing, but it wasn't going very well. Quinn seemed to be off in her own world most of the time and Santana was getting frustrated with her. The two had been snapping at each other most of the day and the other two were just trying to stay out of it.

"What is wrong with you?" Santana asked, shoving her shoulder into Quinn's arm.

"Leave me alone, Santana," Quinn snapped.

"What the hell is your problem today," Santana asked, getting in the blonde's face.

"You," Quinn replied.

"I'm not the one screwing up the routine," Santana countered.

"Let's try it one more time and then call it a day," Rachel suggested, hoping to break the two up.

"Fine," Santana said, walking away, but scowling over her shoulder at Quinn.

Rachel started the music and walked to her place, getting there just as Brittany sung the opening lyrics.

"Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings

Of the bluebird as she sings

The six o'clock alarm would never ring

But it rings and I rise

Wipe the sleep out of my eyes

My shavin' razor's cold and it stings"

"Seriously, Q!" Santana shouted over the music, bringing everyone to a halt. "It's not that difficult; I'm pretty sure even Frankenteen could lean the dance moves faster than you."

Rachel sighed and stopped the music when Quinn and Santana started going at it again. Quinn threw her hands up, grabbed her stuff, and walked out of the choir room. Rachel wanted to follow her, but she wanted to give the blonde a little time to cool down. She had been snappish and jumpy all day; Rachel had tried to make her feel better with little success. She knew her girlfriend was just nervous and panicking about Friday night dinner, so she didn't take it personally when Quinn snapped at her just like she had Santana.

"What the hell is your girlfriend's problem," Santana asked, fuming. "She's been a complete bitch all day and if she doesn't drop the attitude, I'm going to shove my foot up her—"

"San!" Brittany said, scowling.

"What?" Santana asked. "She's being a total bitch and you know it."

"It's still not nice," Brittany replied. "She's your best friend."

Santana scoffed. "That doesn't mean I have to like her right now."

"Rachel, do you know why Quinn isn't very happy right now?" Brittany asked.

"I think she's just nervous about Friday," Rachel replied.

"What the hell is Friday?" Santana asked, earning another frown from her girlfriend.

Rachel sighed. "Quinn is going to come out to her mom."

"Seriously?" Santana asked. "I didn't think Q had the guts to do it."

"Yes, well, she does and she's worried that her mom is going to kick her out again," Rachel replied. "If that does happen, though, my fathers already said she could move into the guestroom, so at least she'll still have a home if her worst fears come true."

"Don't you feel bad now, San," Brittany said, crossing her arms.

"No," Santana replied. "Maybe. She was still being a bitch, though."

"She's just scared and you know how she gets when she's like that," Brittany reasoned. "She's a lot like you; you're both hard on the outside because you're extra squishy on the inside and you don't want to be hurt. Remember how scared you were when you told your mom and dad and grandmother? Quinn's already been kicked out of her home once; she knows what it's like and it's scary to her that it could happen again."

Santana sighed. "Okay."

"You'll say you're sorry?" Brittany asked.

"Fine," Santana said, not looking very happy at the prospect.

"I'm going to go home since there's no point rehearsing with only three of us," Rachel said, walking over, and grabbing her stuff. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Bye, Rach!" Brittany said, waving to her.

She walked out of the school and headed for her car, pulling her phone out along the way to call Quinn; she wanted to give the girl some space, but she also wanted to make sure she was okay. When she looked up, though, the blonde was sitting on the back bumper to Rachel's car, so she threw the phone back in her bag.

"I figured you went home," Rachel said as she approached her.

Quinn shrugged. "My mother is gone for the evening."

Rachel smiled softly. "Does that mean you would like to come over to my house?"

"Actually, I was kind of thinking maybe you could come over to my house," Quinn replied, raising her eyebrow.

"Okay," Rachel said, not at all opposed to spending some alone time with Quinn.

* * *

><p>Rachel watched Quinn out of the corner of her eye; they were eating lunch in the auditorium and the blonde seemed extra jittery. Rachel couldn't blame her, though. Tomorrow was the big day; for better or worse, she was going to know how her mom felt. If Rachel said she wasn't nervous, she would be lying; she was trying to stay positive, though, for Quinn because the blonde didn't need both of them worrying. She needed someone that was going to be strong and Rachel was trying to be that person.<p>

"What?" Quinn finally asked.

"Nothing," Rachel said, shrugging.

"You keep watching me," Quinn stated.

Rachel smiled. "Sorry."

"So, can I ask why you're doing it?" Quinn said, raising her eyebrow.

"I was just thinking about tomorrow," Rachel said, shaking her head. "I keep wondering what's going through your head."

"Well, staring at me isn't going to let you read my mind," Quinn said, nudging her shoulder into Rachel's.

"I know." Rachel laughed. "I'm sorry."

"I didn't say you had to be sorry for it," Quinn said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "And nothing special is going through my head. I just keep thinking about the same things; I'm still trying to think of the best way to say it, but everything sounds stupid and contrived." Quinn sighed. "I wish this wasn't so hard."

"Me too," Rachel said, putting her hand over Quinn's and giving it a squeeze. "Just think, though; after tomorrow, it'll all be over with and you will no longer have to hide."

"I know," Quinn replied

"Fabray!"

Quinn sighed beside her. "What, Santana?"

"I need to talk to you," Santana said, marching up the steps and to the stage.

"Maybe this isn't the best time, Santana," Rachel suggested, hoping the brunette wasn't about to upset her girlfriend more than she already was.

"Make it the best time, then," Santana said, scowling.

Rachel sighed. "Santana—"

"Don't get your panties in a twist," Santana said, holding her hand up. "I'm not here to hurt her delicate feelings."

"What are you here for?" Quinn asked.

"Look, I know what you're going through, okay," Santana stated. "Berry told me yesterday that you're telling Judy and that's why you've been so damn uptight. She let your asshole father kick you out once and you're worried that it'll happen again, but you really shouldn't be. If it happens, you'll just get to move in with Berry or Britt or maybe even me and it'll be way better than living with Judy."

Rachel rubbed her head; she really didn't know if this was Santana's way of trying to apologize or if she was trying to give Quinn a pep talk. Either way, she didn't know how well it was going to work, but at least the other girl was trying instead of fighting with Quinn. She glanced to the side to look at Quinn, but she had an unreadable expression on her face. Rachel figured it was a good sign that she didn't look angry, though.

"Just be honest with her, okay?" Santana said. "Considering how disgusting you and Berry are around each other, she probably already knows, but if she really is that stupid, just tell her the truth. I wish things could have gone differently with my abuela, but I don't regret it. I wanted her to love me for who I really am, not who she wanted me to be and it hurt to hear the things she said to me." Santana shrugged. "At least I know, though, and I don't have to be afraid of her accidently finding out.

"If Judy kicks you out then she's an even bigger idiot than I already think she is. For what it's worth, I don't think it'll happen. She's been trying be all parent of the year for a while and it would be stupid of her to decide not to want you just because of who you have sex with—hypothetically, anyway, since I doubt you and Berry have done it yet. I guess what I'm trying to say is not to worry so damn much; whatever is going to happen is going to happen regardless. If Judy kicks you out, she wasn't worth it to begin with, but you do have people that already know and tolerate you."

"I think we more than tolerate her," Rachel said, scowling.

"Whatever," Santana said, shrugging.

"I think that's the most you've ever said at one time," Quinn said, her eyebrows rising, and an amused smile spreading across her face. "I think Rachel has been rubbing off on you."

Santana scoffed. "Not likely. Maybe if she's lucky, though, a little bit of my awesomeness will rub off on her."

"I don't think she could possibly get more awesome," Quinn said, smiling.

"Gag me," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "Later."

"Don't forget we have rehearsals after school," Rachel called after her.

"Just make sure your girlfriend doesn't get another stick up her ass between now and then," Santana replied as she walked away.

* * *

><p>Rachel was trying not to speed as she drove over to the Fabray residence. Now that the day was upon them, she was getting incredibly nervous, though she had been trying not to show it all day. Quinn didn't seem to have noticed, though, because she was too busy worrying herself. Their Glee performance had been a complete and utter disaster, but even Rachel couldn't bring herself to care about it right now. Santana hadn't been very happy about it, but Brittany kept the other girl fairly calm, so she didn't yell at Quinn or Rachel—much.<p>

It took everything in her not to leave for Quinn's an hour early. The second she got home from school, she rushed around, getting ready, even though dinner wasn't for hours. This was such a momentous occasion, though, and Rachel felt like she needed to look her best—like somehow it would make everything else better. Even though Ms. Fabray appeared to like her, the older woman was finding out about their relationship tonight, so it almost felt like she was meeting her all over again and needed to make a good impression.

Rachel finally pulled in front of the Fabray house and took a moment to gather herself. She was so nervous, her hands were actually shaking; she didn't think she had ever been this nervous before. While she knew everything would be okay in the end, it was getting there that was making her so nervous. If Quinn's mother rejected her, she would just go to live with Rachel and her fathers, but it was the thought of Quinn going through that again that was making her so nervous. She would do anything for her girlfriend not to be hurt like that a second time, but she knew there was nothing she could do. She could only be there for her and hope for the best.

With one last deep breath, Rachel finally stepped out of the car, grabbing the dessert she had made from the passenger seat. She started walking toward the front door, but before she even got halfway up the sidewalk, the door flew open and Quinn was standing there.

"Are you all right?" Rachel asked.

"No," Quinn replied. "I'm freaking out."

Rachel smiled softly. "Just a little longer and it will all be over with."

"I know," Quinn said, sighing.

Rachel stopped in front of Quinn and wrapped her arms around the blonde. "You'll be okay."

"Promise?" Quinn asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "We'll get through this together, okay?"

Quinn nodded and took a deep breath. "I think dinner is almost ready."

Rachel reached for Quinn's hand, entwining their fingers together. Neither of them said anything else as they walked into the house and Quinn shut the door behind them. Rachel could hear Judy in the kitchen cooking something that two of the three were probably not going to be eating, because if Quinn was anything like she was at the moment, she most definitely did not have an appetite.

"Breathe," Rachel said, noticing Quinn looked a little pale.

"I think I might have a heart attack," Quinn stated.

"You're not going to have a heart attack," Rachel said, rubbing her thumb along the back of Quinn's hand.

"I feel like I'm going to," Quinn grumbled.

"If anything, it's probably just a panic attack," Rachel replied. "Which is why I told you to breathe."

"Quinnie, are you talking to someone?" Judy called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Rachel is here," Quinn yelled back.

"Oh!" Judy said, hurrying into the room. "I didn't hear the bell ring."

"I saw her coming and let her in before she had the chance," Quinn replied.

Judy nodded. "It's nice to see you again, Rachel."

"You too, Ms. Fabray," Rachel said, receiving a hug from the older blonde.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Judy?" she asked with a laugh.

"Sorry," Rachel said, smiling.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes if you would like to go to the dining room," Judy said before walking away.

Rachel and Quinn walked into the dining room; Quinn nervously fidgeted with her napkin while Rachel watched the blonde, making sure she didn't look like she was going to pass out. Judy came in after a few minutes and Quinn jumped up to help her bring the dishes of food in. Everything looked great, but Rachel couldn't do much more than pick at her food, which she noticed Quinn doing the same across from her. She would notice Judy looking at them both curiously and would try to take a few bites, hoping the older Fabray wouldn't get suspicious that anything was wrong.

"So, prom is only a month away," Judy finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "Do either of you know who you're going to go with."

Rachel and Quinn looked at each other; they hadn't actually discussed prom, yet, but the brunette assumed they would be going together—they were dating, after all, so it was kind of a given.

"Kind of," Quinn replied.

"What about you, Rachel?" Judy asked.

"While I haven't technically been asked, I think it's safe to assume that I know who I am going with," Rachel replied.

Judy smiled and then turned to her daughter. "So, Quinn, who is the lucky boy that you're kind of going to the prom with?"

Quinn looked like a deer in the headlights. "I—"

She looked at Rachel and the brunette gave her a smile, which she hoped was encouraging. Rachel figured this wasn't how she saw the conversation going, but it was as good a time as any.

Quinn took a deep breath and blurted out, "I'm going with Rachel; I'm gay and she's my girlfriend."

Well, that wasn't how Rachel saw that going; her girlfriend was normally much more eloquent than that.

"What?" Judy asked. "What do you mean?"

Quinn sighed. "I'm gay, mom."

Rachel thought Judy looked like she was going to pass out now. "Excuse me."

Judy stood up, walking out of the room, and Quinn banged her head on the table. Rachel quickly stood up and walked around the table, wrapping Quinn in a hug.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Quinn mumbled. "I had this whole speech planned out and then I just blurt it out like an idiot."

"I do admit, I thought you would do that differently," Rachel said, rubbing Quinn's back.

Quinn sighed. "I'm going to go talk to her."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Rachel asked.

"No, I'm okay," Quinn said, standing up.

Rachel nodded and then waited patiently as Quinn followed Judy. After a while, Rachel started pacing around the room because she was so nervous about what was going on. She didn't hear any yelling or anything of that sort, so she was taking that as a good sign at least. It seemed like an eternity before she heard the front door shut and then footsteps coming her way.

"Help me," Quinn said before turning around and walking away.

"What happened?" Rachel asked, rushing after Quinn.

"Help me pack," Quinn stated.

"She kicked you out?" Rachel asked, reaching out to grab Quinn's arm.

"I'm not giving her the chance to," Quinn replied, looking down.

"Quinn—"

"Please, Rach," Quinn begged.

"Okay," Rachel said, reaching for Quinn's hand. "I will help you."

* * *

><p>After Quinn was done packing, they went to Rachel's house; the blonde remained silent the whole way as well as most of the night. Rachel tried getting her to tell her what exactly happened, but she never said anything about it. After a while, Quinn asked to be alone, so Rachel complied with her request, though it wasn't easy. She wanted to check on her girlfriend to make sure she was okay, but she figured if Quinn wanted to talk, she would come to her. It wasn't until the middle of the night that Quinn came into her room and crawled into bed with her, crying. The blonde still didn't say anything and Rachel simply held her until her breathing evened out and she finally feel asleep.<p>

When Rachel awoke the next morning, she quietly slipped out of bed, trying not to wake her girlfriend, grabbed her phone from the nightstand, and walked downstairs. Sighing, she sat on the bottom most step and scrolled through her contacts. When she finally found Santana's name, she pressed the call button and listened to the phone ring repeatedly. It seemed like Santana wasn't going to answer, but just when Rachel was about to hang up, she heard the girl's groggy voice.

"This better be important, Berry," Santana mumbled.

"It's Quinn," Rachel said, hoping that would get her attention.

"Is she dying?" Santana asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember what was happening yesterday?"

She heard shuffling on the other end and then Santana sounded a little more awake when she said, "Yeah, what happened?"

Rachel sighed. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Santana asked. "Weren't you there?"

"Quinn just sort of—blurted it out," Rachel replied. "Her mom started asking her about prom and she just said it. Judy left the table and then Quinn eventually followed her and I don't know what happened. Judy left and Quinn came down, asking if I would help her pack."

"That bitch kicked her out?" Santana asked, her voice rising.

"I don't think so," Rachel replied. "I asked Quinn and she said she wasn't giving her mom the chance to do it. I don't really know what to do; she won't talk to me and I'm really worried."

"What is she doing now?" Santana asked.

"She's still sleeping," Rachel replied. "She's only been asleep for a few hours."

Santana sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Rachel replied. "Why do you think I'm calling you?"

"Why would I know what to do?" Santana asked, scoffing.

"You've known them both longer than I have," Rachel commented.

"And you know Quinn better than I do," Santana countered. "Do you really want my advice?"

"Yes," Rachel quickly replied.

"Kick Judy's ass," Santana stated.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

"You wanted my advice," Santana said, laughing.

Rachel rubbed her temples; she had no idea why she thought calling Santana would be a good idea. Sure she had known the Fabray women longer, but it was still Santana. As she was sitting there, wondering why the hell she called, she heard more shuffling, muffled voices, and the sound of the phone hitting something.

"Sorry, I dropped the phone. Hi, Rach."

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel greeted.

"Don't listen to San; you can't hit Quinn's mom," Brittany stated.

Rachel smiled. "I wasn't going to."

"Good," Brittany replied. "San told me what happened and I think you should just do what you always do. Even when she pretended to hate you, she always listened to you and you made things better."

Rachel opened her mouth to respond when a knock at the door interrupted it. "Britt, can I call you back? Someone is at the door."

"Okay," Brittany replied. "Later."

Rachel stood up, ran her hands through her hair since it probably looked like a complete mess right now, and walked to the door just as the doorbell rang. When she opened the door, Judy was standing on the other side, and Rachel nearly dropped her own phone in surprise.

"Ms. Fabray!" Rachel said, running her hand through her hair again.

"Is Quinn here?" Judy asked.

"She's asleep," Rachel replied. "I can go get her if you would like."

"That would be—"

Judy stopped and Rachel turned around to see what she was staring at; Quinn was frozen on the stairs, one foot on the step below the other. Rachel instinctively took a step toward Quinn and the blonde seemed to snap out of her daze.

"I heard the doorbell," Quinn stated.

"May we talk?" Judy asked. "I came back after taking the walk, but you were gone and then I noticed you had packed your stuff. I tried calling you, but it always went to your voicemail. Why did you just leave like that? I told you we would talk when I got back."

"I didn't want to be kicked out of my home again," Quinn replied, showing no emotion on her face.

"Oh, Quinnie," Judy said, walking forward. "Is that what you really thought I was going to do?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Quinn snapped.

Judy sighed. "Yes, and that is the biggest regret of my life. I wouldn't make the same mistake again. I was just surprised and needed a little bit of time. You've dated boys your whole life, so you could see why it would be a bit of a shock for me that you tell me you're actually dating this young lady now. I learned a while ago that I need to put my expectation aside and let you be who you are and if you're gay—well, there's nothing I can do about it. And I want you to know that I don't _want_ to do anything about it. I love you for who you are and I don't want to change a single thing about you."

Before Rachel even realized what she was doing, she launched herself at Judy, giving her a huge hug. The older woman just laughed, though, and hugged Rachel back.

"Sorry," Rachel said, pulling away, and wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Can I get a hug from you, too?" Judy asked, holding her arms out for Quinn.

The blonde walked the rest of the way down the stairs and into her mother's arms and Rachel smiled at the sight. She started to walk away to the give the two a moment to themselves, but Quinn reached out, holding onto her arm.

"Does this mean you'll move back?" Judy asked, releasing Quinn.

Quinn nodded and finally released Rachel's arm, reaching for her hand instead.

"Are you hungry?" Rachel asked. "I could make breakfast."

"I'm starving, actually," Quinn said, smiling at her.

"And she can cook, too?" Judy asked as they followed Rachel into the kitchen. "I think you should definitely keep this one, Quinn. Not only is she talented, but she's beautiful and has a lot better manners than any of the boys you've dated; she won't even stop calling me Ms. Fabray even though I've told her to call me Judy. Plus, she's a lot more tactful than that Finn boy you brought to dinner. At least she didn't come out for you in song."

Rachel laughed loudly and she heard Quinn chuckling behind her. This morning was actually going a lot better than she had anticipated.

* * *

><p><strong>The song in this chapter was Daydream Believer by The Monkees.<strong>

**If you want to know when I'm going to be updating any of my stories, I'm keeping my tumblr updated with that information. Either go to the link on my profile or just look me up under this same name.**

**Again, sorry for the time between updates; hopefully people haven't lost interest in this story. Reviews are always appreciated, so please take a few seconds to leave a comment.**


	28. If Only She Knew

**broadwaybound2016: Congrats…you were my 1000th review.**

**ToFinallyEscape: Why one earth would I ever poke fun at Glee? ;) Yeah, I couldn't resist doing that.**

****MmiseryLoves**.Slash: I have not signed up for it yet, but yes, I'm almost certain that I'm going to Faberrycon.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 28 – If Only She Knew<strong>

Rachel walked down the hallway, feeling a lot lighter than she had the previous week. It was Monday, so she was at school early out of habit, though Quinn wasn't meeting her at the bleachers this morning. Once again, Judy wanted to spend quality time with Quinn, so the two were off having breakfast before they had to go to work and school. Rachel didn't mind, really; she was just happy Judy was so accepting of their relationship, so she couldn't really complain too much when the woman wanted to spend time with her daughter.

When Rachel walked past the choir room, she paused, and backtracked a few steps. Puck was sitting at the very back of the risers, strumming on his guitar. It was unusual for him to be at school this early; normally he was just on time or even late. She thought maybe he was rehearsing for Glee, but it was Monday, so they didn't have their weekly assignment from Mr. Schue yet, and Puck usually didn't take it upon himself to perform for no reason. This actually worked out, though, because she had been wanting to ask him about something, but between the drama with Finn, spring break, and this past week, she really hadn't found the time.

"Hello, Noah," Rachel said, walking into the room.

"Sup," Puck replied, not bothering to look up.

"Can we talk?" Rachel asked, standing in the middle of the choir room, watching Puck.

Puck sighed and put down his guitar. "It's never good when a woman asks you that question."

Rachel crossed her arm, but otherwise ignored the comment. "What are your plans for after graduation?"

"What?" Puck asked, laughing. "When did you become my mom?"

"I'm serious, Noah," Rachel said, walking up the riser. "Everyone else has been talking about what colleges they've applied to and where they want to go, but I realized you haven't said anything."

"Who says I'm doing anything?" Puck asked.

"I don't understand why you're doing this," Rachel stated. "One minute you're partying like old time and the next you're brooding. You have a second chance; why aren't you taking it?

"Do you really think it's that simple?" Puck asked.

"Of course not, but you are allowed to be happy," Rachel replied. "I know you probably don't think so, but you haven't done anything in this lifetime. You made a terrible decision once that I know you will never forgive yourself for, but you have to move on, Noah. You can still make something of your life. That's what second chances are about."

"I don't deserve a second chance," Puck said, shaking his head.

"Regardless of whether or not you think you deserve it, you have it," Rachel replied. "Something in this universe is giving you another chance to live your life again."

"But I shouldn't," Puck said, standing up.

Rachel sighed; she wasn't going to get anywhere like this. Sometimes Puck seemed happy to be back, but then other times he was like this and it seemed like the closer it got to graduation, the moodier he was getting. He had been so optimistic in the beginning about being here and she didn't get what had changed. She knew he was torturing himself and she really wished she could say something that would help. While she would never forget what he did, she had forgiven him for it.

"Have you applied to any schools?" Rachel asked.

"A few," Puck replied. "Who knows if I'll get into any of them, though. My grades suck."

"I'm sure you'll get in somewhere," Rachel replied. "If nothing else, you could attend one of the local colleges, maybe even play football there, and then go to a bigger school after a few years. A lot of people do that."

"Or I could flunk out," Puck said, shrugging.

"You can't think like that," Rachel said, sighing.

"Hey."

Rachel turned around and smiled the moment she heard her girlfriend's voice. "How did breakfast go?"

Quinn shrugged. "It was breakfast. Apparently my mother has been doing some research online and wanted to have 'the talk' with me." Quinn shook her head. "I really need to keep her away from computers because that was something I never needed to happen."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Quinn said, nodding. "Don't be surprised if she starts talking to you about safe sex as well."

Rachel blushed at the thought and then Puck cleared his throat and said, "Okay, not that the thought of you two isn't totally hot, but I'm outta here."

Quinn gave him a smile on his way out and then turned back to Rachel. "So, what were you two talking about?"

"Whether or not Noah has applied to any colleges," Rachel answered. "He doesn't seem to want think about his future and I'm trying to get him to consider that maybe he should."

"Why are you so worried about Puck?" Quinn asked. "You never seemed to care what he did before, but then you two became friends suddenly."

"Noah and I discovered a few commonalities," Rachel replied. "That's all. Does it bother you that we're friends?"

"No," Quinn replied. "I was just curious."

"Good," Rachel said, smiling. "Now, are you going to kiss me good morning?"

Quinn laughed lightly and walked over to Rachel, giving her a kiss on the lips. "Good morning."

When the bell rang, Rachel entwined their fingers together and then leaned up, giving Quinn a slightly longer, but still chaste, kiss. When she pulled away, she smiled at the blonde and asked, "Walk me to class?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Quinn said, smiling.

"One never likes to assume," Rachel replied.

"I think it's safe to assume that I will always walk you to class, Miss Berry," Quinn said, putting a strand of hair behind Rachel's ear.

"Well then let's go, Miss Fabray," Rachel said, grinning.

* * *

><p>As Rachel stood at her locker, she wondered more and more where Quinn was. The bell was going to ring any minute, but Quinn wasn't at school yet, and it wasn't like her to be late. She had texted the blonde, wondering if maybe her alarm hadn't gone off or something, but she hadn't replied yet. It was especially worrying because Quinn told her the night before that she was going to meet her by her locker in the morning.<p>

"Hey, Berry," Santana said, shutting her locker door.

Rachel huffed. "Why did you do that?"

She started entering her combination again since she still needed books out of her locker; she had been staring into it for the last ten minutes, but still hadn't gotten her books out when Santana decided to shut it in her face.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Because we need to talk and I'm tired of watching you stare into that damn thing like it's going to tell you the secret to how Finnept actually managed to walk upright."

"What do we need to talk about?" Rachel asked, opening the metal door, and grabbing her books for first and second period.

"Brittany thinks you look sad," Santana said, shrugging.

Rachel frowned. "And?"

"And she made me come over to check on you," Santana said, rolling her eyes again.

"Tell Brittany I'm fine," Rachel replied absentmindedly.

"No, you're going to tell me what the hell is wrong because if I go over there and tell Brittany you're fine, she's just going to send me back," Santana said. "So, just save us all the trouble and tell me now because you know I'll get it out of you in the end, anyway."

"It's noth—Quinn!" Rachel saw the blonde over Santana's shoulder.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Quinn said with a sigh. "I would have been here a lot earlier, but I was in a small accident on the way to school and—"

"You were what?" Rachel asked, her voice rising.

"It was just a finder binder," Quinn said, her brows furrowing. "I was stopped at a red light and someone rear-ended me. Luckily they were going slow, so there wasn't really any damage." Quinn put her hand on Rachel's cheek. "Rach, why do you look so worried? I'm okay, they're okay—everything is fine."

Rachel felt like her chest was constricting and she couldn't seem to take a deep breath. Just the thought of Quinn being in an accident—any accident—made her panic. She was trying to tell herself that Quinn was fine; she was right there in front of her, not a scratch on her. It was hard, though, when images from that night were flashing through her mind—the blood, the flashing lights, the broken glass, the sight of Quinn's pale face.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Quinn asked, concern etched all over her face.

"Are you breathing, Berry?" Santana asked. "You look like you're about to pass out."

Rachel saw Puck out of the corner of her eye, walking toward her, and Brittany coming from the other direction with a worried look on her face. She was having trouble really focusing on anything, though, and too busy trying to control her breathing to lie and tell them she was fine.

"What's going on?" Puck asked, but the sound was muffled to Rachel.

"Quinn was in a little accident this morning and now Berry is freaking out," Santana said, shrugging.

"I got it," Puck said, grabbing her by the shoulders, and steering her away from everyone.

"Excuse me!" Quinn said, running after them, and putting herself in his way so he had to stop.

"Trust me," Puck said softly.

Quinn scoffed. "I seem to remember hearing those words once before and look how that turned out."

"I'm serious," Puck insisted. "Just give me five minutes."

"It's fine, Quinn," Rachel said, reaching out for the blonde.

Quinn was scowling, but nodded and stepped aside, nevertheless. "Find me when you're done?"

Rachel nodded and then Puck led her to the choir room. He shut the door behind him as soon as they were both inside and sat her down on the piano bench. She was still having trouble breathing, but at least the tightness in her chest had eased a bit and she didn't think she was going to have a full on panic attack.

"You're okay," Puck said, looking into her eyes. "Quinn is fine; she's out there worried about you right now, so just like—breathe. This isn't like last time."

"Sometimes I forget this isn't how everything is supposed to be," Rachel whispered, shaking her head. "Then something like this happens and it all comes crashing back. It's amazing how I spent so many years without her in my life, not really even thinking about her, but now she's all I think about. It hurts too much to even imagine living my life without her and if something happens to her again, I don't know what I'll do. Losing her once was bad enough, but now—"

"I know, okay?" Puck replied. "Believe me, I know. We're not going to let anything happen to her."

"But what if we can't stop it?" Rachel asked.

"We will," Puck stated. "We have to."

Rachel tried to take a deep breath. "I should go find Quinn. I don't want her worrying about me."

Puck nodded. "Are you better?"

"I'll be okay," Rachel replied.

Puck nodded to her and Rachel stood up, smoothed down her skirt, and walked toward the door. Once she reached it, she turned around and said, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Puck replied.

Rachel turned the nob and walked into the hallway. The first bell had already rung and everyone only had a few minutes to get to first period, but there were still a number of students in the hall. She figured Quinn was already in class, but then she felt a warm hand on her arm and turned around, facing the blonde.

"Are you all right?" Quinn asked, looking concerned.

Rachel nodded. "I'm sorry. It's just—" Rachel sighed. "Hearing you were in an accident—any accident—scared me a little."

"But I'm fine," Quinn said, smiling as she put her hand on Rachel's cheek, running her thumb along Rachel's skin.

"I know that," Rachel said, smiling back. "The thought of anything happening to you, though—"

"Nothing is going to happen to me," Quinn said, wrapping her arms around Rachel.

Rachel rested her head on Quinn's shoulder. "I hope not."

* * *

><p>"Follow me, Berry," Santana demanded, walking beside Rachel.<p>

"I'll be late for class," Rachel replied.

Santana rolled her eyes and grabbed Rachel's arm. "This is why I always just do this."

Santana pulled her into a nearby bathroom and scowled at the two girls near the sink until they both got the hint and made a hasty exit. Rachel just shook her head; it always amazed Rachel how everyone did what Santana wanted with just a look from the Cheerio.

As soon as they were out the door, Santana crossed her arms and turned to Rachel. "We need to talk."

"That is the second time you have said that today," Rachel noted. "Did Brittany send you again?"

"No," Santana said, walking over, and leaning against the sink. "This is part two of a conversation I told you wasn't over. What the hell was that about today? And I don't just mean you freaking out in the hall—I heard your and Puck talking."

"How did you hear us?" Rachel asked, wondering how much Santana had heard.

"I followed you," Santana said with a shrug of her shoulder. "What the hell were you two talking about with all that 'not going to let anything happen to Quinn' crap? Why would you think something was going to happen to her and what the hell does Puck have to do with it?"

"It's nothing, Santana," Rachel lied.

"Don't give me that shit," Santana said, stepping toward Rachel. "This is just another one of those times where you're acting all weird. I'm not stupid, you know. Other people may be blind, but you haven't been acting like yourself since the beginning of the year and I want to know why."

"I don't know what you're talking about Santana," Rachel said, trying to look nonplussed.

"Well then let me spell it out for you," Santana said, going back to her earlier position. "First you break up with Finn, which I wholeheartedly support, but you followed him around like a little puppy for two years and then you just dump him. And while I'm not complaining, you don't even talk like you did before; you don't go on nearly as many rants and I actually follow what you're saying most of the time now instead of wanting to just punch you in the face to make you shut up.

"You worry about things that make no sense and then don't worry about some things you normally would have been totally obnoxious about. And don't just tell me all of this is nothing. I swear it's like you know things are going to happen before they do. Like why did you have me slushy Sugar during the first week of school? Did you know she was going to make our ears bleed every time she opens her mouth?

"And that little speech you gave me when you were trying to get me to come back to Glee—you seemed so damn certain about everything you were saying. You're not the Rachel Berry that you used to be and everyone else is just too oblivious to realize it."

Rachel sighed. "What do you want me to say, Santana?"

"The truth," Santana replied.

"Okay—" Rachel bit her bottom lip and then released it, taking a deep breath. "I think your first question was why I acted the way I acted today when I found out Quinn was in a car accident. The truth is it brought up some really terrible memories from over ten years ago."

"What, from when you were a kid?" Santana asked.

"Actually, from the day after we graduated from high school," Rachel replied. "You said it's like I know things are going to happen before they actually happen and that is because I have lived all this before. I know your future because I've been there. Don't ask me how because I don't actually know, but I went from being nearly thirty years old to waking up on the first day of my senior year again."

"You're from the future?" Santana asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Cut the crap, Berry, and answer the damn question."

Rachel almost wanted to laugh. "I did, Santana; it's not my fault that you don't believe my answer."

"Fine, don't tell me, but one of these days, I'm going to get the truth out of you if I have to kidnap and torture you to make it happen," Santana promised, narrowing her eyes at Rachel.

"Before we go, since we're already late for class, there is something I would like to discuss with you as well," Rachel said, intently watching Santana. "Brittany told us all that your behavior over spring break was because you were sad that graduation was coming up and you were worried all of us would no longer be friends once we all went off to college."

Santana closed her eyes and mumbled something under her breath.

"Was she correct?" Rachel asked, unable to hear a word Santana had said.

Santana shrugged her shoulders. "According to most people, I'm always a bitch; how was I any different during our little road trip?"

"That wasn't an answer," Rachel said, tilting her head. "And you were different. I think Brittany was right; I think you realized that we all really are growing up and soon we'll be in different states and life as you know it will be different. That doesn't mean things are going to be bad—just different."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Fine, yes. That trip was just one big reminder that we're all going to be gone soon, okay? I know I act like I don't care about anyone and it's true for most of the losers at this school, but—there are a few people I'll miss."

Rachel smiled. "You know we're going to stay friends, right? Even if we live on different sides of the country, we'll still talk and we'll see each other when we come home for the holidays."

"What makes you think you're one of the few?" Santana asked.

"Just a hunch," Rachel replied.

"Yeah, well—whatever," Santana said, heading toward the door.

"Do you realize you always say 'whatever' when you know I'm right or you don't want to talk about something—or in this case, both?" Rachel asked.

Santana scowled. "Whate—get to class."

* * *

><p>Rachel laid on her bed with several papers spread out before her; since Tuesday, she had been going over her notes that she had made when she first came to the past. She should have been focusing on her NYADA audition, which was just next week, but she was too busy racking her brain, trying to make sure there was nothing she had missed—any little detail that could affect things.<p>

It had been so easy for her to almost forget the things that were going to happen. Anytime she was with Quinn, she very much lived in the moment, forgetting the past. The car accident—however minor—brought her back to reality, though. It had been all she could really think about over the past couple days, almost to the point of obsessing over it.

The problem was most of her plans really hadn't worked very well because, so far; almost everything she tried to stop, eventually happened. Plus, she had never really had a solid plan for how to save Quinn; other than locking her in a padded room the rest of her life, there was no way to completely ensure her safety. Puck obviously wasn't going to be the cause of any accident this time, but she still worried that something else would cause it. She couldn't let that happen, though, and would do anything to stop it.

She loved Quinn. She didn't know when exactly it happened, but it had happened. She was in love with the girl and couldn't imagine her life without the blonde. She had been in love with Finn once upon a time, but he was never her best friend; that job had always been filled by Kurt. Quinn was, though, which made the thought of losing Quinn that much worse. Not only would she be losing the person she loved more than anything, but also her best friend.

She had tried not to dwell too much on _how_ she got where she was, but the thought was coming up more. People don't just wake up in the past—not that she was aware of, anyway. She wondered if maybe it actually had happened to people before, but no one ever said anything because they were worried everyone would just think they were crazy. She didn't know if her time travelling had to do with her wish or if that was simply a coincidence; either way, it still didn't explain anything. She had wished for many things in her life, but none of those things had come true. What would have made this time any different.

What she also didn't understand was why Puck has also gone back in time, but had come at a different time than she had. She wondered if he was sent to stop something or do something, but hadn't succeeded, so she was sent as well. That still didn't explain who or what sent them, though. She had many wild theories about what sent them including that wish granting demons were real—she blamed Quinn's gift on that one—but none of them seemed very plausible.

There was suddenly a knock at the door, startling Rachel. She jumped up, quickly grabbed her papers from the bed, and shoved them into a box, under her bed. She looked around, checking the floors to make sure she didn't drop anything, and then straightened up, sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to look nonchalant.

She cleared her throat. "Come in."

"Hey," Quinn said, popping her smiling face into the room.

"Hi," Rachel said, smiling back. "What are you doing here? I thought you were spending the evening with your mom."

Quinn shrugged as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her. "I just reasoned with her that I would be home all day tomorrow."

"Yeah, with the rest of the glee club, rehearsing for Nationals," Rachel replied.

Quinn shrugged again and walked toward Rachel.

Rachel cleared her throat as she watched Quinn slowly make her way to her. "Is there anything you want to do in particular? Maybe watch a-a movie."

Quinn didn't answer, and instead, wrapped her arms around Rachel's neck and put her legs on either side of Rachel's. The brunette was a little surprised, but didn't fight it as Quinn placed a slow, gentle kiss on her lips. Rachel's eyes shut and her hands landed on the blonde's hips. They were in a slightly awkward position, perched at the corner of the bed, so Rachel scooted back a bit. Quinn followed suit, moving further onto the bed, and continuing to straddle Rachel's thighs.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, pulling away to make sure nothing was wrong with Quinn.

"Everything's perfect," Quinn replied. "I was just at home and I missed you, so I thought I would come over."

Rachel couldn't see any trace of a lie in the other girl's hazel eyes. The blonde leaned in again, her kisses became a little more heated. Quinn's tongue slipped between Rachel's lips slid against the brunette's tongue. Rachel felt the familiar pang she had been trying to ignore every time she and Quinn made out, but it was becoming more difficult as the blonde became more forward.

Quinn gently pushed the brunette until her back was against the bed and the blonde was hovering over her. She ran her hands down Rachel's arms, to her wrists, and brought them above her head; she then trailed her hands back down, to her sides, as they stared intently into each other's eyes. The blonde leaned down, capturing Rachel's lips and the brunette fervently kissed her back. Their tongues circled one another, exploring, until Quinn pulled back, nipping at Rachel's bottom lip.

Rachel moaned at the action, which only seemed to spur Quinn on more. The blonde's hands travelled to the hem of her shirt and beneath the fabric, causing Rachel's breath to hitch and goose bumps to erupt everywhere the other girl touched. Quinn stopped just below Rachel's bra, and ran her thumbs along the brunette's ribs. After trailing kissing along Rachel's jaw and down her neck, Quinn's hands started inching up, running along the smooth fabric of Rachel's bra.

"We have to stop," Rachel said, reaching down to still the blonde's hands.

Quinn quickly removed her hands and jumped to the other side of the bed, sighing. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Rachel said, reaching out for Quinn's hand. "We're just—I'm—" Rachel sighed, running her free hand through her hair.

"It's okay," Quinn said, turning on her side. "I didn't mean to push you."

"No, it's not that." Rachel sighed. "I'm just—"

"Not ready," Quinn finished.

It wasn't that she wasn't ready, but she was afraid Quinn would do something she would regret. Quinn thought she was a virgin and while that was technically true, Rachel still had the memories of being with Finn. She hated feeling like she was lying to the blonde, but how could she ever tell her the truth about any of it?

"Yes," Rachel lied.

* * *

><p>"Will someone get me some duct tape so I can tape his mouth shut?" Santana asked.<p>

"I'm just saying that I think me and Rachel should a duet," Finn replied. "We've always done really good together."

"Veto," Quinn said, glaring at the boy.

"I second that," Kurt said, raising his hand.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas," Finn said, crossing his arms, and slumping back in his chair.

"We're not even talking about who's singing what!" Santana yelled.

"Okay, guys, let's all settle down," Blaine said.

Rachel stood next to the whiteboard with a marker in her hand, trying to write down any ideas that came, but there was mostly just arguing. "We've been here for over an hour; I think we should all try to focus more on the task at hand. So, everyone grab a piece of paper and write down five ideas for what you would like to do for Nationals."

Everyone grabbed their pads of paper and pencil that Rachel had given them as they came into Quinn's living room. Most looked like they were giving it some thought while a few quickly scribbled something. Rachel rubbed her eyes as she gave everyone enough time to think, but she was already getting frustrated. She knew it was just their first meeting, but she didn't feel like they were getting anywhere. While she and Kurt had several ideas for what they would like to do, they also wanted input from the rest of the group.

Half of the group was still writing, so Rachel excused herself and walked toward the kitchen to get a drink of water. Judy was at the island with a salad in front of her and a magazine in her hands. She smiled at Rachel as she made her way into the room and then set the magazine down.

"How is the meeting going?" Judy asked.

Rachel sighed. "It's a little—less productive than I would like."

"I could hear," Judy said, laughing lightly.

"I think if we make it through without Santana somehow causing bodily harm to Finn then I will consider it a victory," Rachel said, shaking her head.

Judy laughed again. "I assume those two do not get along."

"No," Rachel replied.

"Would you like to join me?" Judy asked, pulling out the stood next to her.

Rachel glanced down the hall when she heard Santana's loud, angry voice, and then walked toward the offered seat. "I think they will be okay without me for a few minutes."

"Did someone drop you on your head as a child!"

Rachel sighed at the commotion in the living room. "Hopefully."

"I actually was hoping I would get the chance to talk to you," Judy said, watching Rachel. "I wanted to thank you for being there for Quinn last weekend. I know you're going to say there's no need to thank you, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm sure you've noticed that my daughter has a tendency to run, and for once I'm glad she wasn't alone when she did it. I was so worried about her, but I knew she was with you and that you would take care of her."

"You're right—I am going to say that there's no need to thank me," Rachel said, smiling.

Judy smiled back and then added, "I'm also glad I ran into your little Glee friend and got your address or I would have been worrying all weekend."

"I'm sure I would have eventually gotten the details from her and successfully encouraged her to answer her phone—maybe," Rachel said, frowning.

Judy laughed. "You know Quinn; maybe you can work on making my daughter less stubborn, but I've been trying for years without success."

"Are you two talking about me?" Quinn asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Judy asked.

"I heard my name," Quinn said, stopping in front of them, and narrowing her eyes at the two.

"We were just talking," Rachel said, reaching out for Quinn's hand.

"You need to come back out there," Quinn said, entwining their fingers together. "I think Finn is one syllable away from being strangled by Santana."

"How is that different than any other day?" Rachel joked.

"True," Quinn said, shrugging her shoulder, and then smiling softly at the brunette. "Okay, fine, what if I would just like you to come in there with me because I missed you?"

Rachel smiled and kissed Quinn on the cheek. "I'll be there in a moment."

Quinn nodded and gave Rachel's hand a squeeze before going back into the living room.

"Thank you," Judy suddenly said as she watched Quinn walk away.

"For what?" Rachel asked, turning toward the older woman.

"For making her happier than I've ever seen her," Judy replied.

Rachel smiled. "You don't have to thank me for that, either."

* * *

><p><strong>As I mentioned last time, if you want to know my update schedule, you can find it on my tumblr. Also, if you ever want to ask me any questions on there, I'm pretty good about answering them.<strong>

**Reviews are always appreciated and make me a very happy writer.**


	29. You and I Tonight

**ToFinallyEscape: Definitely a lot…and thank you for making me laugh.**

**Ad3n: I doubt there will be a flashback, but it'll obviously come up again as they get closer to graduation. It was mentioned in the last section of chapter 3.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 29 – You and I Tonight<strong>

"So, I think I finally have my audition song narrowed down to only a few," Kurt said, walking briskly into the choir room.

"What songs did you pick?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I heard what you said about not playing it too safe, so I threw in two songs that I think you will deem 'not safe'," Kurt said, sitting down in one of the chairs. "I've narrowed it down to The Music of the Night from the Broadway classic The Phantom of the Opera, Not the Boy Next Door from The Boy From Oz, and Defying Gravity from our favorite musical, Wicked."

She knew from the past that Carmen Tibideaux wouldn't like the first option, but he had successfully sung the second one, getting him into NYADA the first time.

"Well, they are all wonderful options," Rachel replied. "However, I think the latter two would stand out a bit more."

Kurt nodded. "Have you decided?"

"Not exactly," Rachel answered.

It was something she had been thinking about a lot over the weekend, but she hadn't come to a decision. She was afraid that by changing things throughout the year, she had somehow altered her chances of getting into NYADA. She had barely gotten in the first time because of a poor song choice; she was told that, while she gave a wonderful performance, she didn't take a big enough risk with her song. Ms. Tibideaux had heard countless renditions of Don't Rain On My Parade and it nearly cost Rachel her dream. Kurt had been in much the same position, but had luckily changed his song at the last second.

"What are you waiting on?" Kurt asked. "Auditions are only a few days away."

"There's just a lot to think about," Rachel said, shrugging. "I need the perfect song—something that will show my vocal range while also showcasing an amazing performance, but something that every other finalist isn't going to also be auditioning with."

"Rachel, you are an amazing performer and I'm sure they will love anything you do," Kurt replied. "Now, I'm going to go speak with Blaine and see what he thinks about my song selections."

Rachel watched as Kurt crossed the room; and started talking animatedly to Blaine, which made Rachel smile. The two seemed to be doing better after Kurt had a serious talk to him about their future and Blaine was now acting like his old self again. She couldn't be happier that the two were doing so great and she sincerely hoped they wouldn't face some of the problems they did in the past. She didn't know if she could stand to see either of them go through such a difficult period again.

"Hey, Rach," Brittany said, slightly startling Rachel as the blonde's arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Hi, Brittany," Rachel said, smiling.

"Have you seen Quinn and San?" Brittany asked, putting her chin on Rachel's shoulder.

"Not recently," Rachel replied. "I'm sorry."

"Oh well," Brittany said, shrugging.

"I'm sure they'll both be here soon," Rachel said as Brittany let go of her. "It's not like either of them to miss Glee."

"I know," Brittany replied, grabbing Rachel's hand, and leading her over to one of the seats near the top of the risers. "I just wanted to know if Santana ever talked to Quinn, but they're probably doing that right now."

"What did she want to talk to her about?" Rachel asked, smoothing her skirt down as she sat in the chair next to Brittany.

"She didn't say," Brittany said, shrugging. "I just know she was looking for her earlier."

Rachel furrowed her brows as she tried to think of what Quinn might want to talk to Santana about, but she had no idea because the blonde hadn't said anything to her. Though, now that she thought about it, Quinn had been acting a little peculiar the previous day when they talked on the phone, but she seemed perfectly normal today.

"San!" Brittany said, pulling Rachel out of her thought.

She looked up to find Santana walking into the room with a smirk on her face and Quinn following behind with a pink tinge to her cheeks. Rachel immediately narrowed her eyes at the Cheerio, wondering what she had done to make Quinn blush.

"Are you all right?" Rachel asked as Quinn approached.

"She's wonderful," Santana answered, laughing.

Rachel frowned and turned her head to Santana. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything," Santana said as she smirked again. "Q just wanted a little advice and I was kind enough to give it to her."

Rachel glanced at her girlfriend, who looked even more embarrassed now as she said, "Santana, drop it."

"Fine," Santana snapped. "But you best be thanking me later."

"What is she talking about?" Rachel whispered, leaning toward Quinn.

"Nothing," Quinn replied.

Rachel looked at Santana, who seemed very pleased about something, and then faced forward, sighing. There was obviously something they were keeping from her, but she trusted Quinn, so she was going to try not to dwell on it. She was a curious person by nature, though, so that was going to be easier said than done.

She was momentarily distracted when Sam and Mercedes walked into the room hand in hand; she was happy to see that the two of them were working things out. She eyed Sugar, who was sitting between Puck and Artie; she really hoped the girl wasn't going to cause problems with Artie and Rory again. So far, though, she didn't appear to be getting between them; actually, she seemed more interested in Puck than either of the other guys.

"Have you thought anymore about what song you are going to audition with Friday?" Quinn asked, taking her hand.

Rachel looked at the blonde. "I've thought about it a lot, but I'm still unsure."

"Wait," Santana said, holding her hand up. "How can you not know what song you're singing? You're Rachel Berry; shouldn't you have decided that in like preschool or something?"

"That is true, but now I'm not so sure my original selection is the best one," Rachel replied. "I'm simply weighing my options, so I don't make the wrong choice."

"Well, don't go doing some boring Broadway song and put the judge to sleep," Santana advised.

"Not all songs from Broadway are boring," Rachel defended.

"Sure," Santana said, not sounding at all convinced.

Rachel huffed just as Mr. Schue walked in and Quinn chuckled at her obvious annoyance. When she looked at Quinn, the blonde gave her a soft smile and Rachel couldn't help but smile back. Quinn gently squeezed her hand and Rachel scooted her chair over, putting her head on the other girl's shoulder. It was amazing how her frustration or annoyance could completely dissipate with one look from the blonde.

* * *

><p>"Rach, sweetie, please stop pacing," Quinn said, reaching out, and grabbing onto Rachel's hand.<p>

"I'm sorry," Rachel apologized. "I'm just a little nervous tonight and I can't seem to sit still."

Quinn laughed lightly. "Really? I couldn't tell."

"This is no time for sarcasm," Rachel said, huffing.

"Listen, I know you're nervous about Friday, but there's no need for you to be," Quinn said, pulling Rachel closer. "You're amazing and that NYADA judge is going to see it just like everyone else does."

Rachel sighed but then smiled. "Thank you."

"Now, are you going to tell me what song you've chosen?" Quinn asked, smiling widely.

Rachel laughed. "Nice try, but you'll just have to wait and see."

"Fine," Quinn said, looking a little disgruntled.

"I want it to be a surprise," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around Quinn's neck. "I think it's something you're really going to enjoy."

"I like the sound of that," Quinn said, cocking her eyebrow.

Rachel blushed a little bit. "You really need to stop saying things like that."

"Why is that?" Quinn asked, smirking.

Rachel opened her mouth, but quickly closed it and then blushed even more. She was really happy Quinn didn't know what was running through her mind half the time they were alone together—and sometimes when they weren't alone. Every time the blonde touched her, though, she wanted more, and when she said things like she just said, it really didn't help the situation. She would blame it on the teenage hormones running through her body, but she hadn't been like this in the past.

"I just—" Rachel shook her head, averting her eyes from Quinn's gaze.

Quinn put one hand on Rachel's waist and the other on her cheek. "Hey."

Rachel looked at her again and asked, "Yes?"

Instead of saying anything else, Quinn leaned down, capturing Rachel's lips in a lingering kiss. Rachel pulled the blonde closer, so there was no space between their bodies, and buried her hands in Quinn's hair. When Quinn pulled away, it left Rachel wanting more, but the blonde released her and backed away.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked, frowning in confusion.

"Nothing," Quinn quietly replied.

"Quinn," Rachel said, kneeling in front of her.

The blonde sighed. "I just—I—" Quinn closed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair. "I know you're not ready, but I'm just getting—"

"Sexually frustrated?" Rachel guessed.

"A little." Quinn blushed.

"Are you saying you're ready?" Rachel asked.

"I'm saying—whenever you're ready—"

"What if I said I'm ready now?" Rachel interrupted.

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked. "I mean, just last week—"

"I'm sure," Rachel interrupted again. "It's not that I haven't been ready; I just didn't want you to feel like you made another mistake by sleeping with someone when you were not ready."

Quinn leaned forward and gave Rachel a gentle kiss before saying, "This isn't like before, you know?"

"I know," Rachel said, ducking her head.

"Rachel, I love you," Quinn softly said, reaching out, and putting her hand on the brunette's cheek.

"I have to tell you something," Rachel confessed, quickly standing up. "I—I haven't been entirely honest with you about some things."

"What?" Quinn asked and Rachel could see the hurt in her eyes.

"Quinn—I love you, too," Rachel stated. "I want to tell you everything, but I can't because it could have dire consequences. Listen—" Rachel kneeled in front of Quinn again and stared into her eyes. "Everything I have said to you has been the truth, okay? It's not that I've lied to you; I—just can't tell you some things. Everything I have said to you and every moment I have spent with you has been real, though. I don't want you to think what we have is a lie and I know I'm not making a lot of sense right now, but I can't really explain it any better. I just need you to know that haven't done any of this to hurt you; everything I have done has been for you."

Quinn stood up and took a few steps, putting some distance between her and Rachel. "I'm going to leave."

"Quinn, please," Rachel said, stepping toward.

"Just—give me some time, okay?" Quinn requested.

Rachel sighed but nodded and Quinn gave her one last glance before opening the door and walking out of the room. Rachel flopped on the bed, running her hand through her hair, and trying to will away her tears. Quinn just told her she loved her; it should have been the happiest moment of her life, but all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry.

Quinn had to know the truth, though, or at least the partial truth. She just couldn't forgive herself if she had allowed herself to be with Quinn when the girl had no idea there was anything she had been keeping from her. She couldn't let Quinn feel betrayed like if she ever did find out everything.

Rachel had struggled with whether or not to tell Quinn everything, but she was too afraid of what might happen if she knew. It wasn't that she was worried about Quinn's reaction—she was, but that wasn't the main problem—but she was worried that it could mess things up. She was obviously here for some reason and she hoped that reason was to save Quinn. She reasoned that if Quinn was supposed to know what was going to happen to her, though, whatever sent Rachel back would have just sent Quinn back, instead.

Sighing in frustration, she grabbed her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the name she wanted. The phone rung several times before someone finally picked up.

"I think I just messed things up."

* * *

><p>Rachel did her best to give Quinn some space at school, but it left her feeling miserable and alone all day. Kurt tried cheering her up, though he didn't know what was wrong, and she appreciated it, but she really just wanted to be left alone to mope. Puck, being the only person that knew what had happened, kept shooting her sympathetic looks. Several times, he also tried to get her to talk to Quinn, so she kept having to remind him that Quinn didn't want to talk to her. Considering some of the looks Santana was giving her, she wondered if Quinn had told her what had happened, but the Cheerio didn't actually say anything to her about it.<p>

She stared into the refrigerator; she hadn't eaten all day, so she knew she should fix something, but she wasn't very hungry. She actually felt quite sick to her stomach as she had most of the day. She had been staring inside for at least five minutes, finally shutting the door when the doorbell rang. Her fathers were out for the night, attending a dinner that one of Hiram's colleagues was hosting, so Rachel padded to the door to answer it. She was expecting to see Kurt—possibly Puck—so she was surprised when Quinn was standing on the other side of the door when she opened it.

"Can I come in?" Quinn asked when Rachel didn't say anything.

Rachel nodded vigorously. "Yes, sorry, come in."

Rachel stepped aside and Quinn walked into the foyer with her arms crossed. They both stood there awkwardly, neither of them saying anything. Rachel was wondering what the blonde was doing there, but she waited patiently for her to say something.

"I talked to Puck," Quinn eventually said.

Rachel frowned. "Oh?"

"He told me to forgive you," Quinn continued. "He told me that you love me and that I have no idea how much you've gone through for me. He also said that you would tell me everything if you could, but you can't right now, and I just need to trust you."

Rachel's eyes widened and she didn't know whether she wanted to thank Puck or find him and ask him what the hell he was thinking. "Oh."

Quinn smiled softly and shook her head. "I can't stay mad at you—I tried because I really don't like that you're keeping something from me, but I can't. It's only been a day, but the whole time I was at school, I just wanted to find you, so I could kiss you and walk you to class." Quinn sighed. "I do trust you, though—more than anyone—which is why I'm going to trust you with this."

Rachel smiled as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Really?"

"Really," Quinn said, wiping her tear away, and then wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist. "I'm sorry I left the way I did yesterday."

Rachel shook her head. "Don't apologize; you have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one that should be apologizing. I am sorry, Quinn. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know," Quinn said, leaning down, and kissing Rachel.

Rachel savored the feeling of Quinn's lips—the taste of vanilla, the warmth, the softness. It was far too short of a kiss before Quinn pulled away.

"Did you mean what you said yesterday?" Quinn whispered, her face still only inches from Rachel's.

"Which part?" Rachel asked.

"When you said you love me," Quinn replied.

"I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before," Rachel stated. "That's why the thought that I could potentially lose you was killing me and it's why I will do anything to keep that from happening."

Without saying another word, Quinn leaned in for a slow, searing kiss. Rachel closed her eyes and grabbed hold of the back of Quinn's neck in case she tried to pull away again. Quinn pulled back slightly, smiling at the gesture, before reclaiming Rachel's lips in a hungry kiss that left Rachel wanting so much more.

When Quinn's tongue ran along Rachel's bottom lip, the brunette gladly parted her lips, allowing Quinn access. Quinn's tongue found hers and they tangled together in an intoxicating duel. As Rachel pulled Quinn even closer, the blonde's hands slowly travelled down to her hips, landing just at the top of Rachel's skirt. With one last stroke of her tongue, Rachel pulled back and planted several soft kisses to the corner of Quinn's mouth.

"My fathers are gone for the evening," Rachel said, leaning her forehead against Quinn's.

"Oh?" Quinn asked, her eyebrows rising.

"I thought you might like to know," Rachel said, tilting her head, and smiling.

"I—" Quinn nodded.

Rachel laughed softly at how adorable Quinn was when she was nervous or excited—or in this case, possibly both. She looked into her girlfriend's hazel eyes as she took her hand.

"I love you, Quinn," Rachel stated. "So much, and I want to be with you tonight if you still want to be with me. If you've changed your mind about being ready, though, I will completely understand."

Quinn just smiled and tugged on Rachel's hand, causing the brunette to fall into her. She then captured her lips for a few moments before pulling away, and putting her hand on Rachel's cheek. The look in her eyes said everything Rachel needed to know; she took a step back, toward the stairs, and Quinn followed right behind her. As the ascended the stairs, Rachel looked over her shoulder and smiled at the blonde, who gave her a shy smile back.

As they walked into the bedroom, Quinn shut the door behind her and Rachel turned around, facing the blonde. As Quinn walked toward her, Rachel saw nothing but love in her hazel eyes. This isn't how she envisioned their first time—she always imagined flowers, candles, and music—but yet this still seemed perfect. It was real and everything she really needed or wanted was standing in front of her, looking at her with so much love in her eyes. She didn't need some fantasy when reality was completely and utterly perfect.

When Quinn was standing only inches away, she brushed Rachel's bangs aside and trailed her hand down her cheek. Rachel took Quinn's hand in hers, kissing the back of it; she then wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck, leaning up on her tippy toes to place a heated kiss on her lips. Quinn fervently returned the kiss, their tongues, once again, dancing together.

When Rachel sucked on Quinn's tongue, the blonde moaned, and trailed her hands up Rachel's side. Her thumbs brushed along the side of Rachel's bra before running back down and grasping at the bottom of her shirt. When Quinn stopped, though, Rachel nodded slightly, letting know it was okay. With on last swirl of her tongue, Quinn pulled back, tugging the hem of Rachel's shirt out from her skirt; she then captured her lips again, nipping at the bottom one as she undid the buttons. As soon as the last one was finally free, Quinn slipped the shirt from Rachel's shoulders, and ran her hands along the exposed skin.

Quinn trailed a line of kisses along Rachel's jaw as her hands travelled up her torso. For the first time, Quinn put her hand fully on Rachel's left breast, running her fingers along the silky fabric. Rachel's nipples hardened the moment Quinn's thumb brushed over them and it left her aching for more contact—she needed to feel Quinn's skin touch hers. It took a few moments, but the blonde eventually became a little bolder and began kneading her nipples through the fabric of the bra. Rachel moaned at the action, increasingly becoming more wet as her girlfriend pinched at the taut nub.

Rachel reached around to Quinn's back and grasped the zipper of her dress; she looked into Quinn's eyes, making sure it was alright, before she slowly pulled the tab down and the dress dropped to the floor. The brunette licked her lips as she stared at Quinn's perfect form; she ran her hand along the blonde's flat stomach and placed a wet kiss on her collarbone. Quinn bit her bottom lip as Rachel led them over to the bed, pushing Quinn down, onto her back.

She climbed onto the blonde, straddling her hips, and leaned down to capture her mouth in a passionate kiss. Rachel ran her hands up Quinn's sides and cupped her hands over the blonde's covered breasts. She could feel her nipples through the fabric and ran her nails over them, causing Quinn too arch her back slightly, which only spurred Rachel on more. The brunette slipped her hands beneath the bra, rubbing her thumbs over the erect peaks before rolling them between her fingers.

Quinn sat up, grabbing Rachel around the middle, and pulling their bodies closer together. She nibbled on the brunette's bottom lip, capturing it between her teeth, and sucking on it. Her hands found the clasp of Rachel's bra, unhooking it with ease; she slid the straps down Rachel's arms and discarded the garment on the floor.

"You are so perfect," Quinn said, staring at Rachel's naked torso.

Rachel blushed at the words as well as the look of pure lust in Quinn's eyes. She then watched at the blonde reached around to her own clasp and slid the bra off, throwing it next to Rachel's. Her eyes raked over her girlfriend's chest and she brought her hands up to feel her soft skin. She tucked her hair behind her ears and leaned down, sucking and swirling her tongue over the pert nipple. Quinn moaned and put her hand on the back of Rachel's head, so the brunette brought her left hand up, kneading Quinn's other nipple between her fingers.

With one final flick of her tongue, Rachel started kissing her way over to the other side, but Quinn seemed to have another idea. In one fluid motion, Quinn flipped Rachel over, so the blonde was now on top. Rachel let out a small squeak in surprise and the other girl just stared down at her with a hungry look in her hazel eyes. Quinn pulled her in for a hard kiss and then released her, sucking, biting, and kissing her way to Rachel's chest. She took one of the nubs in her mouth and sucked, sending a whole new wave of wetness to her already soaked and throbbing center.

As Quinn continued to tease her, the blonde also began pulling the zipper down on her skirt. Rachel lifted her hips off the bed, allowing Quinn to pull the garment off, leaving her in nothing but her panties.

"Perfect," Quinn said, smiling down at her as she hovered above.

Rachel touched her fingertips to Quinn's lips and the blonde kissed them before leaning down and placing a kiss to her mouth. She then kissed her way down Rachel's body, stopping to pay extra attention to her breasts again, and then continued further down. When she hit the top of Rachel's underwear, she tugged on the band, sliding them down Rachel's toned legs, and leaving her completely exposed.

Considering how amazing Quinn's body was, Rachel felt a little self-conscious about hers, but yet the blonde was looking at her as if she was the most perfect thing she had ever seen. As Quinn slowly made her way back up, touching and kissing a path along her thighs, they locked eyes. Quinn's eyes then looked down and she dipped her head, placing a kiss at her center. The brunette moaned, but then cried out when Quinn's tongue hit her throbbing clit. Quinn alternating sucking and licking it, causing Rachel to get closer to the edge with every motion.

"Oh god," Rachel cried out, gripping the sheets when Quinn's tongue delved inside.

The blonde's tongue thrust inside her, sometimes circling, before delving deep inside again. She continued the action, pushing Rachel closer and closer to release. Her breathing was ragged and she was nearly ready to explode; with one final thrust of Quinn's tongue, Rachel was finally sent over the edge. Her walls clamped around Quinn's tongue and she cried out in pleasure as the orgasm ripped through her body.

Quinn pulled her tongue out from inside Rachel and trailed it up, causing the brunette to shudder as the orgasm still rippled over her. When Rachel opened her eyes, the other girl was above her, staring into them. The blonde licked her lips and then lowered herself, kissing Rachel deeply. It was the first time Rachel ever had the experience of tasting herself and she whimpered at the sensation.

As Quinn pulled back, she placed a kiss on Rachel's cheek, and flopped down next to her. Rachel turned her head to look at her girlfriend and smiled. She felt her eyes start to water and a tear began to trail down her check; Quinn immediately noticed and caught the tear with her thumb.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked, looking concerned.

"I'm wonderful," Rachel replied, propped her head up.

She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Quinn's lips; the blonde wrapped her arm around Rachel's waist, pulling her on top of her. Rachel smiled as they continued kissing and she trailed her hand down, brushing against, Quinn's nipple, and running her nails along her abs. She licked her lips at the thought of tasting Quinn, but when she started to move down, her girlfriend stopped her.

"I want to be able to see you," Quinn explained.

Rachel nodded and moved to the side, allowing enough room to remove the blonde's underwear, and then climbed back on top of Quinn. She looked down at the beautiful woman underneath her and knew she was the luckiest person on the planet to be loved by someone so amazing. No matter what happened in the future, this is one memory she would have forever—one perfect moment.

She leaned down, kissing Quinn again, as she slid her hand between their bodies. Pausing for a moment, she looked into Quinn's eyes to make sure she was ready, before finally reaching her destination. Quinn was soaked and Rachel's fingers slid easily along her folds and to her entrance. Quinn was biting her lip, obviously trying to keep quiet, though the brunette didn't understand why. She entered Quinn with one finger, making sure she was okay, before slipping in a second. Rachel moved her thumb, rubbing it against Quinn's clit, and this time, the blonde let out a strangled moan.

Rachel captured Quinn's lips as she continued to slide her fingers up and down, inside the blonde's soaked core. The blonde was quiet, but Rachel could tell that Quinn was getting closer when her breathing became more labored and she ran her nails down the brunette's back. Quinn's back arched off the bed and she let out a muffled scream as her walls clamped around Rachel's fingers. Rachel moved fingers up and down once more before stilling her movements. She could feel the blonde pulsating around her fingers and she used her free hand to move a strand of hair from Quinn's damp forehead as she leaned down to kiss her.

When Rachel pulled her fingers out, she raised them to her mouth, finally getting to taste Quinn. The blonde was watching her and Rachel could see a faint blush on her cheeks. Rachel just smiled, though, and leaned over, placing a kiss on Quinn's cheek.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked.

Quinn nodded and smiled. "I'm more than okay."

Rachel smiled wider and scooted over, so she could put her head on Quinn's chest and wrap her arm around her waist. "I love you so much, Quinn."

"I love you, too, Rach," Quinn said, kissing her forehead.

Rachel closed her eyes and listened to the rhythmic beat of Quinn's heart—a heart that she would do anything to keep beating. She sighed and squeezed Quinn a little tighter as she tried to memorize everything about this moment.

* * *

><p>Rachel paced in the hall; Kurt was inside, ready to perform any moment, but Rachel was too nervous to go in and watch him—too nervous for him and too nervous for herself. She looked down at her costume again and wondered for the hundredth time that day if she had made the right decision. It was too late to turn back now, though; she would just have to go out there and give the performance of her life.<p>

"You know, wearing a hole in the floor isn't going to do anyone any good," Santana stated.

Rachel looked up to find the brunette leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "I can't help it; it's what I do anytime something important is happening. I guess it helps me focus my thoughts."

"I take it you and Quinn made up considering how sickening you two were today," Santana said, pushing off from the wall.

"We did," Rachel replied, smiling to herself.

"I just want you to know, if you hurt her again, friends or not, I will have to kick your ass," Santana said as she approached Rachel. "I had to listen to her ranting and trying not to cry for two hours because of you. I told her there must be a reason for whatever you're keeping from her and it best be a damn good one."

Rachel turned briefly to look at the door; she could hear music coming from the auditorium now, which meant Kurt was on. "I assure you, Santana, that I didn't do it to hurt her. I love her, but I think you already know that."

"What did you lie to her about?" Santana asked, eyeing her.

Rachel cleared her throat. "I think it's more accurate to say I wasn't completely honest with her rather than saying I lied; either way, though, I do not think right now is the time to discuss it."

Santana arched her eyebrow. "Does this have anything to do with that bullshit story you told me."

"What makes you think that?" Rachel asked, hoping to deflect the question.

"I didn't, but since you didn't answer my question, now I do," Santana said, shrugging.

Rachel closed her eyes. "Santana—"

"Listen, I know what it's like to hurt someone you love and lose them because of it," Santana said, walking past Rachel. "Don't screw up something good just because you're too afraid to tell the truth."

"It's not as simple as that," Rachel stated.

"Fine," Santana said, heading toward the door. "I just—" Santana groaned as if it was painful for her to say what she was about to say. "I—don't want to see either of you hurt."

Rachel gave the Cheerio a smile as she mumbled the last part, and then softly said, "I know."

Santana opened the door and disappeared into the auditorium; the music inside was coming to a close. She took a deep breath and her hand hovered over the handle; the band was instructed to start playing and she would make her entrance. It was a few minutes until she heard the beat of the drums and she took a deep breath; when the guitars started, she readied herself, pulling the door open when it finally hit her cue.

"_What's the time?  
><em>_Well it's gotta be close to midnight  
><em>_My body's talking to me  
><em>_It says, 'Time for danger'"_

Rachel looked into the audience; Quinn's eyebrow was raising and she had a look of surprise on her face, Santana was smirking, and Brittany was bopping her head along to the music. In the row above them, Kurt and Blaine both looked excited, probably because they both loved Rent so much. Carmen Tibideaux, however, sat stony-faced, but at least she didn't look unhappy.

"_It says, 'I wanna commit a crime  
><em>_Wanna be the cause of a fight  
><em>_Wanna put on a tight skirt and flirt  
><em>_With a stranger'"_

Rachel made her way to the stage, dancing as she went down the aisle. She smiled widely when Brittany hooted at her and Santana catcalled, showing her approval. Kurt had his hand over his mouth, holding back a laugh, and Quinn was shaking her head but smiling.

"_I've had a knack from way back  
><em>_Breaking the rules once I learn the games  
><em>_Get up - life's too quick  
><em>_I know someplace sick  
><em>_Where this chick'll dance in the flames  
><em>_We don't need any money  
><em>_I always get in for free  
><em>_You can get in too  
><em>_If you get in with me"_

Rachel danced around the microphone stand, hoping to give the performance of her life. When she looked at the NYADA judge, she the tiniest smile on her face, which made Rachel sing that much harder.

"_Let's go out tonight  
><em>_I have to go out tonight  
><em>_You wanna prowl  
><em>_Be my night owl?  
><em>_Well take my hand we're gonna howl  
><em>_Out tonight"_

Santana and Brittany were both out of their seats now and Rachel tried not to laugh at her friends. As she watched them Blaine also stood up, pulling Kurt along with him.

"_In the evening I've got to roam  
><em>_Can't sleep in the city of neon and chrome  
><em>_Feels too damn much like home  
><em>_When the Spanish babies cry_

"_So let's find a bar  
><em>_So dark we forget who we are  
><em>_Where all the scars from the  
><em>_Nevers and maybes die"_

Rachel took one final look at Quinn, who was smiling widely; the blonde had inadvertently given her the idea the other day to do this song. She knew it was a gamble, but she wanted to make an impression. Even if it caused her not to get in, the look on Quinn's face was worth it. Plus, school or no school, she was going to follow her dreams no matter what and she had no doubt she was going to be just as successful in this life as her last.

"_Let's go out tonight uh huh  
><em>_I have to go out tonight  
><em>_You're sweet wanna hit the street?  
><em>_Wanna wail at the moon like a cat in heat?  
><em>_Just take me out tonight_

"_Please take me out tonight  
><em>_Don't forsake me - out tonight  
><em>_I'll let you make me - out tonight  
><em>_Tonight – tonight – tonight"_

When she finished, there was a lot of clapping from the audience as well as off from the side. Rachel turned to look at the balcony, where nearly the rest of the Glee club were standing, cheering at her. She let out a laugh and bowed to her friends before looking at Carmen Tibideaux; the NYADA judge was clapping as well, albeit less enthusiastically, but she did have a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief; judging by the look on Ms. Tibideaux's face, she had made the right decision.

* * *

><p><strong>The song used was Out Tonight from Rent.<strong>

**Since someone asked about it, this story is going to be 35 chapters, so there are 6 more to go; I know I said 34 before, but then I split the spring break chapter in two, but that just means you get one more than I'd originally planned. If I'm able to stick to my current writing schedule, it should be done around mid-March. Usually the more reviews and encouragement, though, the faster I go, so keep it coming.**

**If you want to know when things are going to be updated, check out my tumblr.**

**As always, reviews are wonderful, so put a few words in the box beneath this.**


	30. At Your Side

**bluefire73: I guess look at it like two different timelines; she's changing the future, but not her past, so her memories aren't changing. I'm sure that made no sense.**

**BornThisWay201f: I'm sorry but no.**

**To the several new people that started reading, thank you for the comments and I'm glad you've found this and are enjoying it.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 30 – At Your Side<strong>

Rachel had paused to stare in a window, halting Quinn in her tracks. The brunette was looking at the prom dresses on display in the window that the mannequins were wearing. She and Quinn still hadn't really discussed prom, but Rachel thought it was safe to assume they were going since she knew how important the event always was to her girlfriend.

Quinn took a few steps forward to join her in front of the window and pointed at a purple gown with silver accents. "I love that one."

"It is beautiful," Rachel commented, smiling.

It was a long time ago, but Rachel recognized the dress; it was the one she had picked out last time as well. Rachel also noticed the dress she had worn further in the store, but she didn't want to buy the same dress. There were too many memories attached to it and she wanted to make new, better memories.

"Come on," Rachel said, smiling at her as she tugged her toward the store entrance.

"Well, well."

Quinn froze and her grip tightened on Rachel's hand. Rachel looked at her in concern and she noticed the blonde looked paler than usual. She looked for the source of the voice and saw a tall, blond man standing a few feet away, with his arms crossed over his chest and an unpleasant look on his face.

"I heard the whispers at church about you," he said, looking down at their joined hands, and sneering slightly. "I didn't think you could go any lower than getting knocked up at sixteen, but I guess I was wrong."

Rachel had never had the displeasure of meeting the man before, but she had no doubt who he was. She looked at Quinn and she knew her girlfriend was holding back tears. He may be an asshole, but he was still her father and Rachel knew his words mattered to her even if she wished they didn't.

Quinn locked eyes with Rachel and the brunette gave her hand a squeeze, hoping to comfort her even if it was just a little bit. Quinn began walking again, heading toward the store, and Rachel followed, staying close by her side.

"Don't you walk away from me," Russell said, his tone threatening.

Quinn stopped, squared her shoulders, and turned to face him. "I don't care what you have to say to me; you're not my dad anymore and I no longer give a damn about your opinion of me."

"Don't you dare speak to me like that," he said, stepping toward her.

Rachel instinctively tried to step between them, but Quinn put her arm out, holding her back. The brunette huffed and glared at the man; she had never hated anyone in her life, but Russell came the closest. She had never understood how he could just kick his own daughter out like he had. Even worse, the man wasn't at the hospital after Quinn's accident, he wasn't there when they turned off her life support, or at her funeral after she died.

"Mr. Fabray, please go and leave us alone," Rachel said, hoping if she was polite that he would be more likely to leave.

"Don't you speak to me," Russell said, raising his voice.

"Leave her alone," Quinn said between gritted teeth, stepping more fully in front of Rachel.

"I didn't raise you to engage in this deviant lifestyle," he said, nearly yelling at this point, and Rachel could see the hatred in his eyes. "This little slut—"

"Hey!" Quinn yelled, and Rachel held her back when it seemed like she was going to go toward him.

"Get away from them!"

Rachel frowned in confusion as she turned and watched Finn jogging toward them. He was scowling and joined the two girls in front of Mr. Fabray, mirroring the other man's stance.

"Don't talk to Rachel or Quinn like that," Finn stated. "Rachel isn't a slut and I won't let you talk about her like that."

"You're that boy," Russell said, eyeing him. "The one she lied about being pregnant by."

"Yeah, so?" Finn asked.

"Just go, Russell," Quinn said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I'm not done talking to you," he said. "Don't you think you've shamed our family enough? Now you're walking around in public, flaunting this—" He sneered as he looked down at their joined hands again. "Unnatural perversion that goes against everything you've been taught. This girl has corrupted—"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Can you stop? I'm gay—I've always been gay. There's nothing that I or you or anyone else can go about that. Rachel has done nothing but be there for me when I needed her, which is a lot more than I can say for you."

"Why you—"

"Go," Finn said, stepping forward. "They get enough crap and they don't need you doing this, too. You don't know Rachel like I do. She's smart and she cares about people and she's a good person. They care about each other and if you knew them at all, you'd be able to see that."

"This is none of your business," Russell said, trying to push past Finn.

"Dude, don't push me," Finn said, stepping in front of the older man to block him from Rachel and Quinn. "I don't want to do something I'm gonna regret, but I'm not going to let you hurt them."

Rachel raised her eyebrows in surprise and then looked to the side, seeing that Quinn looked equally as surprised as she did. Russell looked like he didn't seem to know what to say to Finn, so instead of addressing him, he turned to the girls again.

"Leave, Russell, or I'll—"

"You'll what," Russell asked.

"She'll call Santana," Rachel replied.

Quinn snorted and shook her head, tugging on Rachel's hand, and then whispered, "Let's go."

Quinn grabbed the back of Finn's shirt and started pulling him backward, away from Russell, and into the store. Rachel looked over her shoulder to make sure Mr. Fabray wasn't fallowing them, but he was just standing there with his jaw clenched as he watched them walk away, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finn, what are you doing here?" Quinn asked, releasing him.

"I was getting a tux for prom," Finn said, shrugging.

Quinn pointed toward the entrance. "What was that?"

Finn shrugged again. "I just heard him and didn't like what he was saying. I gotta go; I told my mom I'd be home for dinner with the family."

He smiled sheepishly at the two of them and walked away, leaving Rachel very confused.

"That was interesting," Quinn commented, furrowing her brows.

"I think that's an understatement," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded in agreement. "Did Finn really just defend us?"

"I think he did," Rachel said with a shrug.

* * *

><p>"Can we talk?" Finn asked, hitching his backpack up higher on his shoulder.<p>

Rachel looked at Finn as she shut her locker. "Okay, but I'm supposed to meet Quinn in the auditorium; she wants me to look at her song choice for Mr. Schue's assignment."

"It won't take long," Finn said. "Can we go to the choir room?"

Rachel nodded and followed Finn to the room; he sat down in one of the chairs in the front row and Rachel took the seat next to him. Finn glanced at her and then looked straight ahead again; he then cleared his throat and rubbing his palms on his pants, which Rachel knew to be one of the signs that he was nervous.

"Finn—"

"I'm sorry," he said, standing up. "For everything, I mean. I—I was—I said a lot of things that I shouldn't have. I know I was a jerk and I'm sorry. I was just—I didn't understand why you broke up with me and it hurt a lot. It was like one minute you loved me and the next, you didn't want to be around me anymore and I never understood why. I get that I reacted badly, though, and you didn't deserve that. Then I found out you and Quinn were together and it just hurt even more because you were the only two girls I've loved and it felt like what we had meant nothing. I was wrong, though; I understand that now. You and Quinn are actually pretty cool together and it's nice to see you happy. You're actually happier than you ever were with me and I realized that if I love you, then I should want you to be happy."

Rachel smiled at him. "I forgive you, Finn. I'm not the only person you need to apologize to, though."

Finn nodded. "I already went to Quinn this morning and I told her I was sorry and then I talked to Santana, which was a little scary and she called me a few names, but at least Quinn said she forgave me. I never really thought Santana would, but I'm going to keep trying and convince her that I mean it."

"That's wonderful, Finn," Rachel said. "I really appreciate you apologizing."

Rachel could tell he was being sincere for once; she wasn't one to hold a grudge and was just happy he had finally seen the error of his ways. Being at odds with him had been stressful and she was afraid it was harming Glee, so it would be nice for Finn to be getting along with everyone again—well, most people, anyway.

"I wanted to do it the last couple weeks, but I was sort of afraid to," Finn admitted. "I was just such a jerk and I was afraid you wouldn't wanna talk to me at all or if you did talk to me, you wouldn't believe what I was saying."

"I do believe you and I'm really sorry that I hurt you," Rachel replied. "It in no way excuses your behavior, but I can understand why you felt the way you did."

Finn nodded. "So, we can be friends?"

"We can be friends," Rachel agreed.

"Awesome," Finn said, smiling, and standing up. "I'll see you later."

"Goodbye," Rachel said, getting up as well.

She watched Finn go with a smile on his face and then followed in his footsteps. She was several minutes past when she told Quinn she was going to be in the auditorium, so she picked up the pace. When she walked into the auditorium, Quinn had her legs dangling over the side of the stage and was staring at a sheet of paper.

"Sorry I'm late," Rachel said as she walked down the aisle. "Finn wanted to speak to me."

Quinn nodded. "Did he apologize to you, too?"

"He did," Rachel replied with a small smile. "It was unexpected but nice."

"And you believe him?" Quinn asked. "This isn't one of his tricks, is it?"

"Do you think it is?" Rachel inquired.

"No, but you know him better than I do," Quinn stated.

"I do believe he was being sincere," Rachel replied. "And I'm glad he's making amends now; we're going to need to all get along if we hope to win Nationals."

Quinn laughed. "Good luck with that. I don't think Santana and Finn are ever going to get along."

"Well, he said he apologized to her and wasn't going to give up, so it's a start," Rachel commented, pulling the sheet of paper out of Quinn's hands. "Were these the songs you were thinking of singing this week."

"Yeah," Quinn said, running a hand through her hair.

"It's a real shame he wouldn't let us do music from Broadway shows," Rachel said with a frown as she tried not to smile.

Quinn laughed lightly. "I think you're the reason he didn't want us to do them."

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked with a huff.

"That means he knows you and Kurt would kick our butts," Quinn replied. "Though I don't know how songs from movie and television musicals are any better; half of them are Broadway shows. Do you know what song you're performing?"

Rachel smiled. "I do."

Quinn narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Nope," Rachel said, her smile widening.

* * *

><p>"Is what Finn said true?" Kurt asked, rushing up to Rachel. "Did he really apologize to both you and Quinn yesterday?"<p>

"And Santana," Rachel added.

"I'm surprised," Kurt replied. "And I also feel a little bad for doubting him."

"I was surprised as well," Rachel commented. "I'm happy we can all finally move forward, though; it'll be beneficial to the club if people are getting along."

"I'll just be happy if he stops sulking around school—and home," Kurt said, shaking his head. "I can only take so much of his brooding, if you can call it that."

"He's coming," Rachel mumbled.

"Hey, guys," Finn said, waving as he walked by.

"Hello," Rachel greeted.

Rachel laughed as Finn walked by Santana and waved at the Cheerio, but Santana just scowled at him and he hurried off. Santana smirked, then turned and headed in Kurt and Rachel's direction.

"You're not going to make this easy on him are you?" Rachel asked, amused.

"Not a damn bit," Santana replied. "Why should I?"

"I didn't say you should," Rachel said, shrugging.

"Good, because I'm having some fun first," Santana said, smirking again. "Besides, I don't even know if I believe his ass; he just happened to finally see the error of his ways? I call bullshit."

"People can change," Kurt said, shrugging. "I guess I just don't want to believe my stepbrother is an ass, though."

"For what it's worth, I do think he's sorry," Rachel said, earning a scoff from Santana. "I'm not saying you have to believe or forgive him; it's just my opinion."

"Did he really confront Mr. Fabray like he said?" Kurt asked.

"Wait? What?" Santana asked, holding her hands up. "When the hell did this happen."

"Quinn and I were at the mall and he saw us there," Rachel replied. "He said some things and started getting pretty loud; Finn was in the store looking for a tuxedo for prom and overheard everything."

"Voy a patearle el culo," Santana said before walking away.

Rachel looked at Kurt and frowned. "Where is she going?"

"Not a clue," Kurt replied. "So, what were you and Quinn doing at the mall?"

"Oh, we went out to eat and then decided to window-shop," Rachel answered. "Mostly we got distracted by prom dresses."

Kurt gasped. "You haven't picked out your dress yet? Rachel, prom is next week!"

"I know that; Quinn and I—just haven't really talked about prom," Rachel admitted.

Kurt gasped and put his hand on his chest. "What are you waiting for!? Why haven't you asked Quinn to prom yet?"

Rachel furrowed her brows. "We just—" Rachel sighed. "Fine, okay; I should have brought it up a month ago, but at the time I was afraid she would say no because she wasn't out to her mom. I believe it's assumed now that we are going together, so I don't have to worry about it."

Kurt shook his head at her. "Whether you assume it or not, she's your girlfriend and you should ask her. This is Quinn we're talking about. The girl has wanted to be prom queen her whole life."

"I actually think Quinn is no longer worried about becoming prom queen, but I see your point," Rachel replied. "I will officially ask her by the end of the week, though. I take it you and Blaine have everything planned."

"Of course," Kurt said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "First, we're going to have dinner at my house, which Blaine is going to come over and cook. Then we'll go to the dance for a while, probably long enough to see the prom king and queen announced, but then we are going to leave the dance early and go back to my house because my dad and Carole are out of town and we're going to have the house to ourselves."

Rachel paused for a moment and then said, "What is wrong with me? This is my chance to have the perfect prom and give Quinn the perfect prom, but here I am, I haven't even officially asked her, and I have absolutely no plan for prom, which is only a week and a half away!"

"Calm down," Kurt said, putting his hands on Rachel's shoulders. "You and I will think of something; we just need to come up with a plan—and quickly because you're running out of time."

"Rach," Brittany said, tapping on her shoulder.

"Hello, Brittany," Rachel said, turning around, and smiling at the blonde.

"What are you doing Friday evening?" Brittany asked.

"I don't believe I am doing anything," Rachel replied. "Why?"

"That's great!" Brittany said, clapping her hands together. "We can go on a double date!"

"A double date?" Rachel repeated.

"Yes," Brittany said in excitement. "San and I will meet you and Quinn at Breadstix at seven."

"Okay," Rachel said, unable to disappoint the blonde.

Brittany gave her a quick hug. "Awesome."

Kurt started laughing as Brittany walked away and Rachel turned to him, glaring. "This is not funny."

"Actually, I find it quite hilarious," Kurt said, putting his hand over his mouth.

Rachel crossed her arms. "Maybe it won't be terrible. You don't know—it could be fun."

"You're going on a date with Santana," Kurt said, chuckling.

"No," Rachel said, huffing. "Brittany is going on a date with her; I will be on a date with Quinn and we'll just—all be there together."

Kurt continued laughing and began walking away; he waved over his shoulder and said, "Have fun on your date."

* * *

><p>"<em>Oh, hey little girl, listen to my plea<br>__I come with a lifetime guarantee  
><em>_One day maybe you will find the baby makes three  
><em>_It's the ladies' choice, I'm the ladies' choice  
><em>_The ladies' choice, I'm the ladies' choice  
><em>_Choice, choice, I'm the ladies' choice"_

Everyone clapped and Puck removed the guitar strap from his shoulder, setting the instrument in its place. He then smirked and walked to his seat as Mr. Schue walked toward the middle of the room.

"That was great, Puck," their teacher said, still clapping. "Okay, last but not least is Rachel.

Rachel stood up and smoothed down her skirt. She walked to the microphone stand and nodded to the band; they started up and she took a deep breath before looking at Quinn. This wasn't something Rachel would typically sing; usually she would sing something from something a little more classic, but she knew Quinn would really like it.

"_I lived my life in shadow  
><em>_Never the sun on my face  
><em>_It didn't seem so sad, though  
><em>_I figured that was my place  
><em>_Now I'm bathed in light  
><em>_Something just isn't right"_

Quinn's hand was over her mouth, but Rachel could tell she was smiling widely, and Rachel smiled back.

"_I'm under your spell  
><em>_How else could it be  
><em>_Anyone would notice me  
><em>_It's magic I can tell  
><em>_How you set me free  
><em>_Brought me out so easily"_

Tina and Brittany both seemed to be enjoying the song, but Kurt looked confused. Rachel figured it was because he didn't know her song selection, though, and Kurt prided himself on knowing all songs from musicals.

"_I saw a world enchanted  
><em>_Spirits and charms in the air  
><em>_I always took for granted  
><em>_I was the only one there  
><em>_But your power shone  
><em>_Brighter than any I've known"_

Rachel grabbed her microphone and abandoned the microphone stand to walking toward Quinn. She grabbed Quinn's hand and intertwined their fingers together as she looked into her eyes and sang.

"_I'm under your spell  
><em>_Nothing I can do  
><em>_You just took my soul with you  
><em>_You worked your charm so well  
><em>_Finally I knew  
><em>_Everything I dreamed was true  
><em>_You made me believe_

"_The moon to the tide  
><em>_I can feel you inside"_

Rachel pulled Quinn out of her seat and led her to the middle of the room. She twirled her girlfriend around and then released her grip on her hand. Quinn stood in front of her with a shy smile on her face and then laughed as Sam whistled at them.

"_I'm under your spell  
><em>_Surging like the sea  
><em>_Wanting you so helplessly  
><em>_I break with every swell  
><em>_Lost in ecstasy  
><em>_Spread beneath my willow tree_

"_You make me complete  
><em>_You make me complete  
><em>_You make me complete"_

When Rachel finished, everyone clapped and Rachel took a bow before turning back to Quinn and clearing her throat.

"Quinn, I know this is a bit late and I should have asked you a month ago because you're my girlfriend and it's an important event in our relationship, but will you go to prom with me?" Rachel blurted out.

Quinn laughed lightly and shook her head. "Yes—though I thought we were already going together since we both bought our dresses, but yes."

"I simply thought we should make it official," Rachel said with a shrug.

Quinn smiled, gave Rachel a kiss on the lips, and wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her into a hug. "Thank you."

"For what?" Rachel asked.

"For doing this," Quinn said, pulling back. "For singing that song."

Rachel smiled. "I know it's your favorite episode and I just recently watched it, so when Mr. Schue gave us this assignment, I thought it would be perfect."

"I love you," Quinn said, kissing her again.

Rachel grinned and wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck. "I love you, too."

* * *

><p>"Don't you look nice, honey," Hiram said as Rachel entered the living room.<p>

"Do you have a date with a certain blonde?" Leroy asked, smiling at her.

Rachel sighed. "Yes."

"Are you okay?" Leroy asked, scooting toward her. "Are you and Quinn having trouble?"

"What?" Rachel asked, frowning. "No, of course not."

"I think what your father means to say is that you just don't seem very enthusiastic for this date," Hiram said and Leroy nodded.

"It's a double date," Rachel explained. "With Brittany and Santana."

"Ah," Hiram said with a nod. "I see your problem."

"It's not that I think it's going to be terrible; it's just dates are usually a two person event and Santana can be a bit—Santana," Rachel said, shrugging. "It's only one night, though, and it'll make Brittany happy."

"That must be Quinn," Leroy said, standing up when the doorbell rang.

Rachel stood up, smoothing any wrinkles out of her dress and picking a speck of lint off her chest. She heard Quinn's laughter in the foyer and then the blonde came into the living room with Leroy by her side. Quinn looked even more beautiful than usual and she had the yellow and white dress on that Rachel loved so much. Even though her fathers were watching them, Rachel walked over to Quinn and put her hands on the blonde's face, pulling her in for a kiss. After a moment, one of them cleared his throat and Rachel pulled away, blushing. Quinn just laughed and shook her head slightly.

"Are you ready?" Quinn asked.

Rachel nodded. "You look beautiful."

"So do you," Quinn whispered into her ear.

Rachel took Quinn's hand and turned to her father. "I'll be home later."

"Be home by midnight," Hiram stated.

"Two," Leroy corrected.

"Midnight," Hiram repeated, and Rachel laughed as Leroy mouthed 'two'.

"I'll have her back by midnight," Quinn said as Rachel pulled her away.

"Suck up," Rachel joked.

"I don't want him mad at me," Quinn said, shrugging.

"I don't think either of my fathers could be mad at you," Rachel commented. "They both love you."

Quinn laughed lightly. "And I need to keep it that way, which is why I am going to have you home by midnight."

"Well, even if you didn't have me home by midnight, only one of them could potentially be mad," Rachel replied. "Daddy did say I could be out until two."

"It's not even seven, yet—would you really want to be out with Brittany and Santana for that long?" Quinn asked.

"No," Rachel replied. "I thought maybe we could spend the rest of the night doing—other things."

Quinn whipped her head to the side to look at Rachel. "You mean—"

Rachel smiled. "Yes."

Quinn cleared her throat as she opened the passenger door for Rachel. "Two it is."

* * *

><p>"There they are!" Brittany said, jumping up as soon as Rachel and Quinn walked through the door.<p>

"I apologize for our tardiness," Rachel said as she made her way for the table.

"Were you two screwing in the car or something?" Santana asked, taking a drink of water.

"No, Santana," Rachel said, blushing, and looking around to see if anyone heard her crass friend. "We were stuck behind a car accident."

"Was anyone hurt?" Brittany asked, looking concerned.

"It was barely a fender bender," Quinn said.

Rachel looked at Quinn with a frown; it was more than a finder binder and she wondered why her girlfriend had just lied to Brittany about it. Santana looked at her, though, and scowled, so Rachel didn't ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue. Quinn looked at Santana and then looked at Rachel, putting her hand on the brunette's leg, and leaning toward her.

"Brittany worries anytime there's an accident," Quinn mumbled. "So we always lie to her and tell her everything is fine, so she doesn't worry about the people involved."

"Good to know," Rachel said, nodding.

Rachel could understand Brittany completely; as a child, she had done the same thing. After Quinn's car wreck, every time she saw one, she flashed back to that night. The first few times after the accident, she even had a panic attack and Finn would have to pull over to the side of the road to calm her down. It got a little better over time and the panic attacks stopped, but she still always thought of that night when she passed by a car accident.

"Good evening," a waitress said, stopping by their table. "What can I get you two to drink?"

"Water with extra lemon," Rachel said, smiling at the waitress.

"Water as well," Quinn said, grabbing the menu in front of her.

"I'll be right back with your drinks," the waitress said, walking away.

"So now that Berry grew some balls and asked you to prom, what do you losers have planned for it?" Santana asked.

Rachel scrunched her nose in disgust. "Thank you for that mental imagery, Santana."

Santana laughed, but Brittany nudged her and said, "Be nice, San."

"I am being nice," Santana said, shrugging.

"We haven't actually decided," Quinn said, answering Santana's question.

"Actually," Rachel smiled, "I made reservations earlier."

"This is one of those things you're not going to tell me, isn't it," Quinn said, smiling softly at her.

"Yes, but I really think you're going to like it," Rachel replied.

"Well, as long as we're together, it doesn't really matter to me what we're doing," Quinn said, kissing Rachel's cheek.

"You two are so disgusting," Santana said after making a few gagging sounds.

"Don't listen to her," Brittany said, clamping her hand of Santana's mouth. "She thinks you two are cute together; she told me today."

Santana scoffed behind her girlfriend's hand and then glared at Quinn and Rachel as if she was daring them to say anything. Rachel just laughed, though, and shook her head. If she had known when she was in high school the first time that Santana was such a softie, she wouldn't have been nearly as afraid of her.

"What are your plans for prom?" Quinn asked.

"Oh, you know—some dancing, winning prom queen, and then sex," Santana said, shrugging.

"What makes you think you're going to win prom queen?" Quinn asked.

"Uh because I'm the hottest girl in school and you haven't even campaigned, so I'm pretty much a shoo-in," Santana replied. "Who else would people vote for?"

"And I'm totally gonna win prom king," Brittany added.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck," Rachel said, looking up at their waitress as she put her glass of water down. "Thank you."

"Are you ready to order?" she asked.

"Spaghetti with meatballs—and keep the breadsticks coming," Santana ordered.

"What San said," Brittany said.

"Can I have a slice of your garden pizza?" Quinn said, handing her menu over.

"I would like the chef salad with tofu, Italian dressing on the side," Rachel said, smiling at the waitress.

"I'll put your orders in," she said, writing on her notepad as she walked away.

"So, Nationals are three weeks away," Santana said, shoving a breadstick into her mouth. "When are we going to work on it again?"

"Can you please not talk with your mouth full," Quinn said, holding her hand up to block Santana from her view.

"Bite me, Fabray," Santana said, glaring.

"Kurt and I were actually discussing it today, and we thought it might be a good idea to gather as a group after Glee on Monday," Rachel said. "Hopefully this one will be more productive than the last one because we really need to get our set lists down. I don't want this time to be like last time; we have to win this."

"Well as long and you and Finn don't suck face on stage, it won't be the disaster it was last year," Santana stated.

"Yeah, I don't see that happening this year," Quinn stated.

"You two better not suck face, either," Santana said, pointing her half eaten breadstick at Quinn and Rachel.

"I think we'll be able to control ourselves, Santana," Quinn replied, rolling her eyes.

"Monday, huh?" Santana said, looking at Rachel. "Where are we meeting so I can threaten everyone to be there or I'll kick their ass?"

"My fathers are hosting a dinner that night, so it can't really be at my house," Rachel replied.

"I don't know how much my mother will like having us all there after last time, but I can ask her," Quinn said, shrugging.

"I needs more breadsticks!" Santana said, yelling at their waitress, who was on the other side of the room.

Rachel hid her face in embarrassment since so many people turned to look at them.

"It's only a few more hours," Quinn whispered.

"A very long few hours," Rachel whispered back

"Yes, but then we can spend the rest of the evening to ourselves," Quinn whispered into her ear.

Rachel smiled at the thought. "That's really not helping the situation go less slowly, you know?"

"What are you two whispering about?" Santana asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

"Nothing," Quinn said, smirking.

* * *

><p><strong>The songs were Ladies Choice from Hairspray and Under Your Spell from Once More, With Feeling.<strong>

**I know someone mentioned it before and I would just like to say that I'm officially going to FaberryCon, so maybe I'll see some of you there.**

**As always, reviews are wonderful.**


	31. Let's Dance

**watdaforks: East.**

**Shrodeddrknss13: Thoughts are always good.**

**Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed; I'd comment to more of you, but I have homework that needs to be done.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 31 – Let's Dance<strong>

"Hello, Noah," Rachel said, sitting down next to him at the cafeteria table. "I wanted to ask you something."

"That's never good," Puck said, smirking at her.

Rachel shook her head. "I was just curious who you're taking to prom. Everyone had been talking about it for the past week, but you haven't said anything."

"I'm not going," Puck said with a sigh.

"Why not?" Rachel asked, frowning. "It's one of the last chances we're going to have to be with all our friends. Who knows how much we'll see each other after we all go off to college. We should make the most of this night—make it better than the last time. Don't you want to have one night of fun?"

"What's the point?" Puck asked. "It's just a night of shitty music."

"It's so much more than that!" Rachel said, aghast. "Besides, the Glee club is supposed to perform during the dance, and Mr. Schue said we all have to participate."

Puck sighed and put his fork down. "Look, the only girl I like is taken; who would I even go with."

Rachel looked at him and furrowed her brows; she felt bad for him and actually felt guilty that she had gotten the girl of his dreams. It wasn't fair for him that he came back in time and still didn't get the girl. Who could have foreseen that this was going to happen, though? Rachel certainly hadn't. She'd never expected to fall in love with Quinn and certainly hadn't figured the blonde would ever have feelings for her.

"I'm sorry, Noah," Rachel said, reaching out for his hand. "I know it must be hard for you."

"You have no idea," Puck said, his voice rising slightly. "I've spent the last twelve years knowing that she'd never want me."

Rachel's mouth opened and closed several times before she finally said, "What?"

Puck sighed and slid his tray to the side. "I knew, okay? I knew back then that she liked you, but she made me swear that I wouldn't tell you, so I didn't. Even when we came back, I tried to keep my promise since it was the last one I ever made her."

"How—when did she tell you?" Rachel asked, slightly flabbergasted by this new information.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Puck asked. "I don't think you're gonna want to hear it."

"Just tell me, Noah," Rachel said quietly.

"She told me right before she left my party," Noah finally said after a moment of silence. "I saw her in the living room and she stormed off; I thought it was a little weird, but I was drinking, so I really didn't think much about it. Later I found her crying in the bathroom and when I got her to tell me what was wrong she said—that it was about you." Puck looked away. "She told me she couldn't take watching you and Finn making out all night. I thought it was because she was still into Finn, but she just laughed and told me she didn't care about him. That's when I figured it out—it all finally made sense. She made me promise not to tell anyone and when she left the bathroom, she left the party."

Rachel felt numb. Quinn left the party because of her—Quinn died because of her. If she and Finn hadn't been all over each other that night, Quinn wouldn't have left the party earlier and she never would have gotten into a car accident. She'd noticed Quinn didn't look very happy that night, but she never stopped to ask her what was wrong.

"You're right—I didn't want to hear that," Rachel said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Listen, I know what you're thinking and it's not your fault," Puck stated. "You couldn't have known any of this was going to happen."

"But it is my fault," Rachel said, wiping away more tears. "If I hadn't been so wrapped up in Finn, I could have—"

"Hey, what's going on?" Quinn asked, causing Rachel to jump. "Why are you crying? Are you okay?" Quinn sat down next to her and then turned to Puck. "What did you do?"

Puck frowned. "I—"

"It's not his fault," Rachel said, taking Quinn's hand in hers as she wiped her tears away with the other. "And I'm okay; you know me, I can be overly dramatic sometimes." Rachel forced a smile. "Really, don't worry about it. Is everyone in the auditorium?"

"Yeah," Quinn replied. "I came to see why you weren't there."

"I just needed to speak to Noah for a minute, but we're finished," Rachel said, standing up, and giving Puck a sad smile.

Quinn nodded and took Rachel's hand. "Are you coming, Puck?"

"In a few," Puck said, grabbing the burger from his tray and taking a bite.

Rachel squeezed Quinn's hand and the blonde smiled at her and started walking toward the double doors. Rachel looked at her profile and sighed; she leaned her head against Quinn's shoulder as they walked and her girlfriend released her hand, wrapping her arm around the brunette's shoulder, instead.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Quinn asked, kissing her temple.

Rachel inclined her head to look into her eyes. "Yes—as long as I have you, everything is fine."

* * *

><p>Along the top of the whiteboard, Rachel wrote 'movie music' in purple marker and then turned back to the group. "Okay, what other ideas do you have?"<p>

"I think we should do something to commemorate school," Blaine suggested. "You know like about our journey, our friendships, and our future. Half of the club is going to be graduating in a few weeks and I think we should sing about it."

The marker hovered over the board as Rachel tried to figure out what to write, but she eventually settled on 'goodbye high school'.

"I vote Broadway," Kurt said and Rachel wrote it on the board.

"You would," Santana replied.

"I don't see you coming up with anything better," Kurt snapped.

"Guys, let's not fight," Rachel said, holding her hands up.

"How about we do three different songs from three different decades," Finn said. "Maybe like the 60s, 70s, and 80s since we did 90s last time."

"Dibs on the 80s song," Kurt said.

"You can't dibs a song when we don't know what songs we're doing or even if we'll go with that theme," Tina stated.

"I can and I did," Kurt said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rachel sighed and looked at Quinn, who just raised her eyebrows in amusement. She rolled her eyes as Tina and Kurt argued back and forth; her girlfriend was obviously going to be no help in this situation and was actually laughing.

"Does anyone else have a suggestion?" Rachel asked loudly, hoping to be heard over the arguing.

"I say we do some country music," Sam suggested.

"Thank you," Rachel said, happy they were getting back on task. "Anyone else?"

She looked around, but people just shrugged or shook their heads. She looked back at the board and was actually amazed that they managed to come up with five suggestions in a short span considering the last time they got nowhere.

"Okay, let's start thinking about songs, but if anyone comes up with a new theme, let me know," Rachel said as she grabbed a green marker to write songs down.

"I think we should do For Good," Kurt said.

Rachel smiled and wrote the song under 'Broadway' and 'goodbye high school'. "I think it would be a good choice for either, don't you."

Kurt smiled and nodded.

"There's this really great song on the Shrek soundtrack," Brittany said excitedly.

"Don't give her that look unless you want to lose an eye on top of not being able to walk," Santana said, pointing at Artie. "It's actually a good song."

"What's the name?" Rachel asked.

"I don't remember," Brittany said, shrugging.

"Okay," Rachel said, writing 'unknown Shrek song'.

"How about Kiss Me," Quinn suggested and Rachel smiled as she added it.

"What movie is that in?" Blaine asked.

"She's All That," Kurt said, and when Blaine shrugged, Kurt gasped. "Rachael Leigh Cook, Freddie Prinze Jr.—seminal 90s teen romcom. Seriously?"

"Sorry," Blaine replied, shrugging.

"Dude, you should probably watch the movie before his head explodes," Sam said, nudging Blaine.

"Anyway," Mercedes said, clearing her throat. "I Will Always Love You for the movie one."

"Ain't Too Proud to Beg," Artie added.

Puck raised his hand. "We should totally do Born To Be Wild."

Rachel continued to write down the songs people were throwing out and smiled. They were actually getting somewhere now and it made her happy that she was finally getting input from everyone else. She and Kurt thought about making their set list themselves and getting everyone else onboard, but this was much better and easier since half the club would have just argued with them if they tried it the other way.

"Okay, let's take a fifteen minute break," Rachel said, looking at the time.

Everyone stood up and quickly hurried toward the kitchen; Quinn moved to the vacated couch and stretched out on it. Rachel threw her marker onto the nearest table before walking over to the couch; she lifted Quinn's legs up and sat down, placing them on her lap.

"This is going a little better than I thought it was going to go," Rachel commented.

Quinn laughed. "Yeah, no one has killed anyone yet."

"Did you expect someone to?" Rachel asked.

"Well, Santana is here, so yeah," Quinn replied, sitting up. "She hadn't even called Finn a name, though, so I'd call it progress."

Rachel put her hands on Quinn's cheeks and brought their lips together. Quinn leaned even further forward, getting onto her knees, and straddling Rachel's legs. Rachel pulled back, though, and Quinn looked at her curiously.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked.

"Nothing," Rachel said, sighing.

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked, furrowing her brows. "You've been a little weird today and—have I done something wrong?"

"No, no," Rachel quickly responded. "It's nothing like that."

"Time to quit making out," Santana said, walking into the room.

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief that their conversation was interrupted; she really didn't want to talk about this right now—couldn't talk about this. Part of her wished Puck had never told her the truth.

"Rach," Kurt said, waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "You were saying?"

* * *

><p>The final bell had rung and Rachel was grabbing her physics book out of her locker. She had a test in two days and was behind on the material because she had so much other stuff going on. Every time she sat down to do homework or study, she would get distracted by something else, making it very hard to concentrate on schoolwork.<p>

When she closed the door and turned around, Santana was leaning against the row of lockers with her arms crossed and she was staring at her. Rachel sighed because it was obvious the Cheerio was waiting on her, but all she wanted to do was go home and study so she didn't fail this test.

"Can we please make this quick," Rachel said, walking toward Santana.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Santana replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

Rachel resisted rolling her eyes. "Okay, in that case, I will be at home studying."

She started walking away, but after a few moments, she heard Santana's footsteps behind her.

"If I did want to talk about something, it would probably be about why the hell you've been acting so damn weird the last few days," Santana said, causing Rachel to stop.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, turning to face the other girl.

"You tell me," Santana replied.

"How can I tell you if I don't know what you're referring to?" Rachel asked, but she was lying, though; she knew exactly what Santana was talking about.

"Cut the bullshit," Santana replied. "You've been a depressing little freak all day."

"Is this your way of showing concern and asking me what's wrong?" Rachel asked, genuinely smiling for the first time all day.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Santana said, holding up a hand.

Rachel nodded. "I'm going home."

"Fine," Santana huffed, "what's wrong?"

"Why do you do that?" Rachel asked

Santana scowled. "Why do I do what, Berry?"

"Pretend you don't care," Rachel stated. "We all know better, so why don't you just drop the act and save us all the time and energy.

"What would be the fun in that?" Santana asked, shrugging.

Rachel shook her head. "I'm fine, Santana; don't worry about it."

"I never said I was worried," Santana replied.

Rachel wanted to laugh; this conversation was going nowhere and it seemed like Santana was being extra stubborn today.

"Okay, hypothetically speaking, let's say I am worried because you haven't been yourself today or yesterday," Santana continued. "When people are talking to you, you seem fine, but then it's like you think no one's looking and you turn off the act. Don't think I haven't noticed. Britt and Q have too and they're worried, and when B's worried, she gets sad, and when she gets sad, I have to either fix or destroy whatever's causing it." Santana shrugged. "It's your choice which one I do."

"Fine," Rachel said, hoping to get this over with. "I found out something and I'm not very happy about it."

"I don't think that was vague enough," Santana said, rolling her eyes.

Rachel shook her head. "Okay, I found out that something was my fault—something very bad that happened long ago. Not my fault in the sense that I intentionally did something, but my fault nonetheless. Maybe if I had been a little more aware of things and hadn't been so wrapped up in my own little world, I would have seen that someone else was hurting and because of this, something even worse happened. I'm doing everything I can now to change the outcome, but what if I can't fix it? What if some things are just destined to happen and there's nothing I can do about it?"

"Is this more of that 'I'm from the future' shit?" Santana asked.

Rachel frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe."

"Well, ignoring the fact that you're insane, how is it your fault?" Santana asked.

"I told you, something bad happened and I feel like I could have stopped it," Rachel replied, walking toward the wall, and leaning her back against it.

Santana cocked her eyebrow, looking very skeptical. "How bad?"

"The worst thing you could imagine," Rachel whispered, tipping her head back to rest it against the wall.

"How can you feel guilty about something you didn't even know was going to happen?" Santana asked. "The way I see it, it's not like you did anything on purpose, right?" Rachel nodded. "Well, then how could you have ever stopped it?"

Rachel sighed and then loudly said, "You don't get it!" Rachel pushed off from the wall and threw her hands up. "Imagine if something happened to Brittany—imagine you unknowingly did something and she left and was in an accident because of it. Wouldn't you feel guilty and feel like you could have done something, anything to stop it even if you didn't know it was going to happen?"

Santana frowned and opened her mouth several times, but nothing ever came out; Rachel just sighed at her friend's nonresponse and started walking away as she calmly said, "I'll be home studying."

* * *

><p>"Stop moping."<p>

Rachel looked up at Puck. "What?"

"Ever since I told you what I told you, you've been moping around," Puck replied. "Stop it."

"You know that's easier said than done," Rachel said, sighing.

Puck grabbed the nearest chair and spun it around to sit in front of Rachel. "I killed her. Me. Not you. It wasn't your fault, so stop acting like it was. You didn't know how Quinn felt because she was too afraid of telling you, so you couldn't possibly have stopped what happened. I'm the one that was drinking, I'm the one that decided to drive, and I'm the reason Quinn died."

"Noah—"

"No, you need to hear this," Puck interrupted. "If something happens to Quinn this time—if we can't save her—that won't be your fault, either. All you can do is love her now and do everything you can to change things, but if you can't—if fate or whatever is just a bitch—you have to know that it's not your fault because you tried. You tried and you gave Quinn an amazing last year."

"You think we're going to fail?" Rachel asked.

Puck shook his head. "Hell no. I think the whole reason we're here is to make sure our girl's okay. Why else would we be here?"

Rachel nodded in agreement. "I've been thinking a lot about that, especially over the past few days. I think the reason other things have changed back to the way they originally were is because they were simply meant to be and we were never supposed to fix them, but I find it hard to believe that Quinn was meant to die when she was only eighteen. I believe Quinn is the one thing we both needed in our lives; without her death, you can finally move on with your life, and maybe I can finally be happy. Though I don't understand why Brittany or Santana didn't also come from the future as well."

"Maybe only Jews are allowed to time travel," Puck said, smirking.

"I highly doubt that, Noah," Rachel replied, shaking her head, but smiling slightly. "Thank you."

"For what?" Puck asked.

"For making me feel a little better," Rachel said.

Puck shrugged. "I figure prom's tomorrow and you should really just enjoy life since you never know what's gonna happen. You and me know that better than anyone."

"I really wish you would change your mind about going," Rachel said, watching him stand up.

"Oh, didn't I tell you," Puck said, smirking again. "I'm going."

"That's wonderful!" Rachel said, reaching out to hug him.

"I asked Sugar," Puck admitted.

Rachel's eyebrows rose. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Puck laughed. "Artie and Rory both asked her, but she hadn't ever made up her mind, so I convinced her to go with me. I figured it'd give me a date and keep her away from them, so they don't screw everything up again at Nationals."

"Good thinking," Rachel said with a smile. "Well, I'm happy you're going, and I demand a dance with you."

"You really think Quinn will let that happen?" Puck asked.

"Quinn understands that you and I are friends," Rachel replied. "I'm sure she won't mind if I have one dance with you."

"Cool," Puck said, nudging her with his arm. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

Rachel shook her head as Puck left the choir room; she stood up and grabbed her bag from the nearby chair. She slung it over her shoulder and started heading toward the door, but Santana stepped into the rooms with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"Santana," Rachel said, surprised by her sudden appearance. "How long have you been out there?"

"Long enough to try to figure out if you and Puck are both fucking nuts or if I'm nuts for thinking that you just might be telling the truth," Santana stated. "Then I came to the conclusion that I'm must be nuts because there's no way in hell you two are from the future."

Rachel sighed, threw her bag to the floor, and sat down.

"But I had to ask myself why you would make up that crap about Quinn," Santana continued. "You must believe it or why would you have that conversation? Unless you were trying to convince someone and you wanted them to overhear you, but it's not like you knew anyone was around to overhear you."

"Does that mean you do or do not believe me?" Rachel asked.

"I'm not sure, yet," Santana answered, taking a step back.

Rachel raised her eyebrows as Santana turned around and walked out of the room. She wondered if Santana would ever believe her; she wasn't going to attempt to convince Santana again, but the Cheerio seemed to be doing enough on her own to figure it out. Rachel just shrugged to herself, though, and grabbed her bag again, finally heading out of the room.

* * *

><p>Rachel took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror one last time. She was wearing a black, strapless dress and matching black heels. After a lengthy debate about the pros and cons of hair up versus hair down, she settled on the latter, so her hair was in soft curls, her bangs swept to the side.<p>

"Are you coming down, honey?" Leroy called up to her.

She grabbed her clutch and hurried to the door, not wanting to keep Quinn waiting any longer. She just wanted to look perfect for the evening, though, considering she was going to be walking into prom with the most beautiful person in school.

As she rounded the corner and looked down the stairs, Quinn's face instantly lit up and Rachel blushed, still finding it hard to believe sometimes that she was the cause of Quinn's reaction. She made her way down the stairs, trying not to trip as the flash of her fathers' camera went off repeatedly. Quinn grabbed her hand the moment she was within reach and they smiled shyly at each other.

"You look beautiful," Quinn said, looking Rachel up and down.

"Thank you," Rachel said, ducking her head. "You look beautiful, too."

"Okay, look over here," Hiram instructed.

"I'm sorry about them," Rachel whispered.

Quinn laughed and whispered back, "It's fine; my mother would be doing the same thing."

"Actually, she's instructed us to email her the pictures," Leroy said.

"Of course she did," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.

Hiram continued taking pictures from every different angle, in every different pose and location imaginable before Rachel finally insisted that they needed to leave or they would be late for the dance. Her fathers eventually said goodnight with Hiram requesting they be back by one, but Leroy shook his head, telling Rachel to ignore him. They had already discussed and Rachel gently reminded Leroy that she and Quinn were both adults and, therefore, shouldn't have a curfew. He agreed with her and told her he would talk to Hiram; clearly that conversation hadn't happened, but she wasn't going to let it stop her from her plans for the night.

When they pulled up to the school, she immediately spotted Kurt and Blaine in the parking lot. Quinn parked the car and Rachel hurried to get out.

"Kurt!" Rachel shouted as she opened her door.

Kurt and Blaine both stopped and turned around; Kurt immediately came rushing over to the car.

"Oh my god," he said, wrapping her in a hug. "You look amazing!"

"You look amazing, too, Quinn," Blaine added.

"Yes," Kurt agreed, giving the blonde a quick hug as she joined them on the other side of the car.

"Shall we?" Blaine said, holding his arm out for Kurt.

Rachel smiled as she watched her two friends, and then turned to Quinn and took her hand. "Are you ready for prom?"

"I'm ready to dance with my girlfriend," Quinn said, giving her a soft smile.

Rachel's smile grew and the two followed Kurt and Blaine into the gymnasium, which was a stark contrast to their last senior prom. Since Kurt was the class president, he had gone much more traditional with the decoration than Brittany had when she was in charge. He had decided on a 'Midnight Garden' theme, so there were flowers and topiaries throughout the room. The gym was mostly in shades of green and purple, but there were splashes of colorful flowers around. There was even a gazebo covered in lights that contained the refreshment table.

"Wow," Rachel said as she looked around. "Kurt did a wonderful job."

Quinn nodded in agreement. "A definite improvement from junior prom."

"Hey," Rachel pointed to one of the tables across the room, "there are Brittany and Santana."

Quinn gave Rachel's hand a squeeze and immediately walked toward their friends. Brittany was bouncing in her seat, clearly happy to be there; Santana looked significantly less thrilled, but she was still smiling nonetheless.

"Hey, you two," Quinn said as they approached.

"You guys totally look like Disney princesses," Brittany said, standing up to hug them both.

"You look okay," Santana said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"You look okay, too, Santana," Rachel replied.

Santana scoffed and narrowed her eyes. "I look fucking hot and you know it."

Rachel laughed and Quinn just shook her head before turning to the brunette to ask, "Dance with me?"

"I'd love to," Rachel said, rubbing her thumb across the back of Quinn's hand.

They danced, song after song, until one of them had to go on stage and then they would either take a break from one song or dance with one of their friends. Rachel eventually got her dance with Puck and while she was performing, Puck and Quinn got one dance together. Though she knew Puck's feelings for Quinn, she really didn't mind; she trusted them both and was okay with him getting one dance with the woman he wanted to be here with.

As soon as their principal took the stage, Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand. While her girlfriend hadn't campaigned for it and hadn't even mentioned it much, she knew it would mean a lot to her if she won prom queen. Santana and Brittany had been dancing next to them and were now standing shoulder to shoulder, watching Figgins tap on the microphone.

"I am here to announce your prom king and queen," he said, holding an envelope in his hands, and sighing. "First, your prom king is—" He opened the envelope and then looked at the crowd. "Finn Hudson."

Rachel clapped and smiled at him as he walked by; Santana, however, was standing next to her and mumbling in Spanish. Brittany just shrugged, though, clearly not too upset about not winning prom king.

"And your prom queen is—" He opened the other envelope. "Congratulations, students, on not succumbing to anarchy again. You prom queen is Quinn Fabray."

Everyone cheered loudly and Quinn looked surprised for a moment before putting on a smile. Rachel threw her arms around the blonde's neck and hugged her tightly. Quinn wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and hugged her for a few moments before they finally pulled apart and Quinn walked up to the stage to get her crown from Kurt.

"Your king and Quinn will now dance," Principal Figgins said before stepping away from the microphone.

"Wait," Finn said, taking the crown off his head before the band could start playing.

"What are you doing?" Kurt asked loud enough for everyone near the stage to hear.

"I'm giving this to someone that deserves it more than me," Finn said, stepping forward. "Rachel."

She could feel everyone's eyes on her as Finn walked over to her. "What are you doing?"

"You and Quinn should be king and queen. Well, queen and queen, but—you know what I mean," Finn said, holding the crown out. "You deserve this crown; you're one of the best people at this school and I just thought you should know that." Finn placed the crown on her head and smiled.

"Thank you," Rachel said, wrapping her arms around him.

Finn hugged her back for a moment and then pulled away and said, "Go dance with your girlfriend."

"Santana, do the song," Rachel whispered.

"What?" Santana asked. "Now?"

"Yes, now," Rachel replied.

Santana hurried toward the band and Rachel turned to Quinn, who was still standing on the stage. Rachel shrugged, giving a self-deprecating smile and Quinn laughed lightly. The band started playing and Santana walked to the microphone, pushing Quinn toward the stairs as she walked past her.

"Do you have any idea what just happened?" Quinn asked.

"None," Rachel said, reaching out her hand. "Dance with me."

"_I've waited a lifetime  
><em>_To feel the way that I feel now  
><em>_But I never imagined  
><em>_Feels like walking on the clouds"_

"Wasn't Kurt supposed to sing?" Quinn asked, looking up at the stage.

"I asked Santana to sing this song," Rachel said, smiling. "She was going to sing it later in the night, but I thought this would be better."

"_You're the reason I'm here  
><em>_I'm not moving, I'm not leaving  
><em>_Can't believe that you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm standing right here  
><em>_I'm not moving, finally breathing  
><em>_Can't you see that you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm standing right_

"_You drained me of sadness  
><em>_And filled me back up with love  
><em>_No room left for the madness  
><em>_That once my world was made up of"_

"So what are your plans for after the dance?" Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes," Quinn replied.

"Really, really?" Rachel asked

Quinn laughed and shook her head as Rachel put her head on the blonde's shoulder

"_You're the reason I'm here  
><em>_I'm not moving, I'm not leaving  
><em>_Can't believe that you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm standing right here  
><em>_I'm not moving, finally breathing  
><em>_Can't you see that you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm standing right here"_

"I made reservations for the little inn right outside of town," Rachel said, glancing up.

"And your dads are okay with that?" Quinn asked.

"I convinced Daddy that we are both adults and should be treated as such," Rachel replied

"_Standing up for what I believe  
><em>_The reason I'm here  
><em>_Being the best that you help me be  
><em>_I promise that I will not let you down  
><em>_After all you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm here standing, oh yeah"_

"Does that mean we can get out of here?" Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled. "As soon as we take our picture together, I'm willing to leave whenever you want to leave."

"_You're the reason I'm here  
><em>_I'm not moving, I'm not leaving  
><em>_Can't believe that you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm standing right here  
><em>_I'm not moving, finally breathing  
><em>_Can't you see that you're the reason  
><em>_That I'm standing right here"_

The song ended and Rachel leaned in, giving Quinn a soft kiss. When she tried to pull away, though, Quinn just leaned forward farther, keeping their lips attached. Rachel smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around the back of Quinn's neck as the blonde wrapped her arms more tightly around her waist.

"Get a room," Santana said, nudging them as she walked by, laughing.

Rachel sighed and rolled her eyes. "I think it is her mission to ruin as many moments as she can."

"Probably," Quinn said, pulling Rachel toward the flower covered arch. "Let's get our picture taken."

Rachel smiled to herself as she and Quinn walked toward the photographer. As soon as they got there, Quinn asked the photography to wait a moment and then turned to Rachel to adjust the crown on top of her head. It a bit big for her since it was supposed to be worn by a guy and it kept slipping every time she tried to fix it.

"I give up," Quinn said, sighing.

"The picture will be perfect regardless," Rachel said, looping her arm around Quinn's.

Quinn smiled as Rachel gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. They turned to the camera and when the flash went off, they were both smiling widely, arm in arm, and looking into each other's eyes.

* * *

><p>"Wow," Quinn said as she walked into their room. "This place is spectacular."<p>

"It's good to see that the rooms look just as good in real life," Rachel said, nodding. "Sometimes the pictures on the website look really nice, but then you get to the place and it looks like it hasn't been redecorated since 1975 and hasn't been cleaned in two years. This place looks just like the pictures, though; I applaud them.

Quinn sat down on the bed and bounced up and down a little bit. "The bed's nice."

Rachel sat down next to her. "It's actually more comfortable than my bed."

"I don't know about that," Quinn said, smiling. "Your bed is very comfortable."

"You think so, huh?" Rachel said, leaning toward Quinn.

"I do," Quinn said, bringing their lips together.

Rachel put her hands on the sides of Quinn's face and deepened the kiss. She opened her mouth when Quinn's tongue ran along her bottom lip and moaned. She slowed the kiss, though, and pulled back with one last quick kiss to her lips.

"You wouldn't mind if I took a shower real quick, would you?" Rachel asked, getting up from the bed. "I perspired a little from all the dancing."

"It's fine," Quinn said, lying back on the bed.

"You're sure?" Rachel asked, pulling the crown off her head, setting it on the desk, and smiling at the sight of it.

"I'm sure," Quinn said, smiling at her. "I'll be right here."

Rachel walked over and gave Quinn a quick kiss before turning around. "Unzip me?"

Quinn sat up, unzipped Rachel's dress, and flopped back down on the bed. Rachel pulled her dress down as she walked over to the chair, where she draped it over the back and then grabbed her bag from the bed. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door, but left it open a crack. The shower was huge and Rachel turned the water on, sticking her hand in to check that the temperature was just right.

She threw her hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't get wet and then jumped in, showering quickly. She was out within a few minutes and hurriedly dried off before wrapping the towel around herself. After checking in the mirror to make sure she was still presentable, she walked back into the bedroom.

Quinn was still lying on the bed, but she was out of her dress and curled up under the sheets. Rachel smiled at the sight and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at her sleeping girlfriend. She moved a lock of hair from her face and leaned down, kissing her forehead. As she sat there watching Quinn, she started wondering how she got so lucky. It was amazing to her how one of the things she never saw coming turned out to be the best thing to ever happen in her life.

She stood up and took off her towel, going to the bathroom and throwing it on the nearest hook. As she walked back into the bedroom, she pulled her hair out of the ponytail and walked to the other side of the bed, crawling in next to Quinn. Her girlfriend shifted a bit, snuggling into her side and Rachel placed another kiss on Quinn's forehead.

Quinn would probably tell her in the morning that she should have woke her up, but she looked so peaceful that Rachel didn't want to wake her. Plus, they had the room until noon the next day, and as long as Quinn was in her arms, everything else could wait til morning.

* * *

><p><strong>The song at prom was Here Standing by The Saturdays. <strong>I put the song on my tumblr in case anyone wants to have a listen.<strong>**

**Four chapters left…well, more like three chapters and an epilogue.**

**Comments are always wonderful, so please leave one.**


	32. I Won't Give Up

**Guest: I haven't quite made up my mind about a sequel yet. After telling several people at FaberryCon about my original ending to this story and subsequent sequel, I was informed that I need to do it, so it's a possibility that I might do it.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 32 – I Won't Give Up<strong>

"Okay, guys," Mr. Schue said, waving his hand as he tried to silence the room. "I'm sure you already now, but I would like to remind you that Nationals are only a week and a half away. We have a lot of songs in our repertoire, but we need to buckle down and choose our six songs, three for the semifinals and three for when we make it to the top ten. I have no doubt we can win this and bring that Nationals trophy through those front doors out there for the whole school to see. Let's show everyone that's doubted you just how far you guys have come." He smiled as everyone clapped at his words. "Alright, I'll see you guys Wednesday, and please begin thinking about set lists."

Everyone began gathering their things, but no one really left the room like they usually rushed to do. Mr. Schue was the first to leave the room and most of the club discreetly watched him go. A few seconds after he left, Kurt turned to Rachel and rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't he have asked us weeks ago to start thinking about set lists?" Kurt asked, obviously not impressed by their teacher.

"Maybe we could just tell him we've been meeting without him," Artie suggested.

"I don't think he'll like that very much," Tina replied.

Mike shrugged. "He might be happy that we've taken the initiative to work on it ourselves."

"Oh please," Santana said, scoffing. "He'll get all weepy that we've been doing it without him and you know it."

"As much as I hate to say it, I agree with Satan," Mercedes said, looking pained by the admission.

"I believe Santana is correct as well," Rachel stated. "While I believe he will be happy we have shown an interest and taken the initiative as Mike has said, I don't think Mr. Schue will be thrilled that we have done it without his knowledge."

"Why didn't we just tell him in the first place, then?" Sam asked.

"Do you really think he wouldn't have blown off the idea?" Puck countered.

"I dunno," Sam said, shrugging. "Maybe not."

"We're talking about the man that had us writing songs last year in our hotel room," Quinn reminded him.

"So, the question is how are we going to get him on board with the set lists we've come up with?" Blaine interjected.

"Precisely," Rachel replied with a nod.

"And how are we going to do that?" Mercedes asked.

"Maybe we can distract him with a shiny new vest," Santana said, shrugging.

"Can you be serious?" Kurt snapped.

"I was being serious," Santana replied.

"I think we should just put on a united front," Blaine stated. "The worst he can do is say no."

"And then we can refuse to go along with whatever lameass ode to the 80s he comes up with," Santana replied.

"I don't think he'll like that," Brittany said, frowning.

"Who cares?" Santana asked.

"We need to go about this in a way that isn't going to make Mr. Schue angry or hurt his feelings," Rachel said.

While it was true that she often thought their teacher was trying to destroy her career and seriously had it in for her, she wasn't doing all of this to hurt him. She knew he very much cared about Glee, but he was often misguided in his efforts. He thought they could win competitions with no preparation, and while they had scraped by in the past, this was Nationals and they would never win like that.

"Again, who cares?" Santana repeated.

"I have an idea," Finn spoke up.

Several people looked at him skeptically and Santana looked like she was about to say something since she had a gleam in her eye, so Rachel asked, "What's your idea, Finn?"

"Just leave it to me, okay?" Finn replied. "If I can't get him to agree to it, then you all can try something else, but give me a day."

Rachel didn't think Finn would try to sabotage them or anything and he was closer to Mr. Schue than anyone else, so if anyone could get their teacher on board with the idea, it probably would be him. So, Rachel nodded and said, "Okay."

"Seriously?" Santana asked.

"We'll give him one day," Rachel said, giving Finn a smile, trying to show him that she had confidence in him. "If it doesn't work, we'll try Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" Artie asked.

Rachel sighed. "I don't know yet."

Mike took Tina's hand. "We'll figure it out, guys. Everyone can think on it tonight, and if Finn can't convince Mr. Schue, we'll try something else."

"Later," Puck said, shouldering his backpack, and heading for the door.

Everyone else started following suit and the room cleared out fairly quickly until Santana, Kurt, Rachel, Blaine, and Quinn were the only five left in the room. Rachel turned to Quinn and smiled, entwining their fingers together as she asked, "Would you like to come over to my house? My fathers will both be gone fairly late, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

Quinn smiled. "Do you really have to a—"

"Oh my god!" Kurt exclaimed, putting his hand to his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, leaning over to look at Kurt's phone.

"I have to go," Kurt said, rushing out of the room.

"What the hell just happened?" Santana asked.

"I saw something on his phone about that kid that used to bully him," Blaine said, looking very confused, before quickly hurrying after his boyfriend.

"Oh no," Rachel whispered.

Quinn obviously heard Rachel because she turned to look at her. "What? Do you know what happened?"

"I have an idea," Rachel sadly said.

She wanted to go after Kurt, but she knew he could handle himself, and he already had Blaine with him. She sighed to herself; this was just one more thing she tried to prevent, but it happened anyway. As she looked at Quinn, she wondered if she was going to be able to change anything or if she was just destined to fail.

* * *

><p>When Rachel entered the school the next morning, she walked toward Quinn's locker, hoping her girlfriend was already there. They had spent most of the previous evening together until Quinn had to go home for dinner. Her mother had been working a lot of evening shifts and finally had the day off, so she wanted Quinn home for dinner, but Quinn didn't seem to mind too much. Since the blonde had finally come out to Judy, their relationship had improved even more and Rachel could tell they were growing closer. Quinn didn't really say anything, but Rachel could tell by her demeanor that she was happy about it.<p>

Kurt had called not long before Rachel went to bed and told her that Karofsky had attempted suicide, but was alive and in the hospital. Like last time, he tried to hang himself and his father found him. It seemed that someone from his school had seen him coming out of the local gay bar and even snapped a picture of it. Kurt was planning on missing first period so he could go visit him; Rachel offered to go along, but Kurt said it was something he needed to do on his own.

When she got to Quinn's locker, the other girl wasn't there yet, but that wasn't surprising since Rachel was there quite early. She paused at the locker for a moment, but then decided she should take this opportunity to go to the choir room and work on her solo for Nationals. The moment she took a step, though, her name was said and she went rigid, stopping in her tracks. She didn't immediately turn around; she took a deep, calming breath and pivoted toward the voice.

"Hello, Shelby," Rachel said.

"How are you doing?" Shelby asked, smiling at her.

"I'm well," Rachel stiffly replied. "How are you? And Beth?"

"We're both doing good," Shelby replied. "Beth is getting so big and she's trying to walk everywhere."

Rachel nodded; she didn't resent the little girl, but it still hurt that Shelby adopted Beth and really didn't want anything to do with Rachel. They did talk on occasion—mostly through email and sometimes over the phone—but they never had the relationship that Rachel wanted. Their talks had always been about Beth or whatever production Rachel was involved with at the time.

While Rachel wasn't close with Shelby, she did have a better relationship with Beth. As complicated as it was, even if they didn't share genes, they were sisters. Rachel had always tried to put her feelings about Shelby aside and not look at the little girl as her replacement. It was easy to love Beth, though; she was very bright and kind and talented. Rachel could always see both Puck and Quinn in her; she had Quinn's looks, Puck's personality, and both of their musical talent. The last time Rachel had spoken to her, she was even learning to play the guitar, which she had been very excited about.

"So, what are you doing back in Lima?" Rachel asked. "I thought you were living in New York."

"I decided to move back," Shelby replied. "New York was just—it was hard being a single mother there. As much as I love the city, I want Beth to grow up someplace that isn't so hectic. I want her to have a backyard to play in and not to grow up too quickly. So, I'm opening up a studio where I can give voice and dance lessons." Shelby shrugged. "Teaching students how to perform is what I know and love to do, so I thought it would be a good idea."

"It sounds like a wonderful idea," Rachel agreed.

Her mind was racing as she wondered how Quinn was going to take the news. The last time was a complete disaster, but she was in a very different place now; she was happy with her life and doing very well. Rachel didn't anticipate Quinn having the same reaction as last time, but she still feared what impact this might have on the blonde. She tried to stop Shelby from coming to Lima, but now that she was here, Rachel would just have to be there for Quinn and support her in whatever way she needed.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, indicated the school.

"I know Nationals are next weekend and I thought I would come wish you luck," Shelby replied. "I know how much it means to you to win this year."

"Well, thank you," Rachel said, a little surprised.

"I also thought I would ask your opinion on something," Shelby said. "Do you think Quinn and Puck would like to see Beth? You know them better than I do, and I didn't want to just spring it on them."

Rachel furrowed her brows. "I think Puck would love to see Beth, but Quinn—I'm not sure. I know she thinks about her, but—I'll talk to her about it."

"Send me an email once you talk to them, okay?" Shelby asked.

"I will," Rachel said with a nod.

"I'll talk to you then," Shelby said, turning on her heel, and heading back down the hall.

Rachel sighed to herself as she watched her mother go; this wasn't the type of thing she needed to deal with this week, but Shelby was here regardless and she _was_ going to have to deal with it.

* * *

><p>Rachel stared up at Quinn's house and sighed; she had been delaying this conversation all day, but time was finally up. She didn't want to ask Quinn about seeing Beth while they were at school, so she decided to wait until the end of the day. Quinn left as soon as the final bell rang, though, telling Rachel that she was behind on homework and really needed to get home to work on it. Rachel didn't really have time to object, so Quinn gave her a kiss and ran off. Kurt had stopped her in the hall to talk, but as soon as Rachel managed to get away from him, she drove to Quinn's house.<p>

As soon as she found the courage, she quickly knocked on the door before she chickened out. It only took a few seconds and she could hear someone approaching the door. When it opened, Quinn was on the other side in shorts and a tank top. Rachel was momentarily distracted as she looked her girlfriend up and down, but then she shook her head, remembering why she was there.

"Hey," Quinn said, taking off her reading glasses. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," Rachel replied.

"That's never a good conversation starter," Quinn said, furrowing her brows.

"It's nothing bad," Rachel assured her. "Or I hope you don't consider it bad." Rachel sighed. "May I come inside?"

Quinn immediately stepped to the side and kissed Rachel's cheek as she entered the Fabray house. Rachel flashed her a smile and then followed the blonde into the living room where she had books and papers strewn all over the coffee table and couch. Quinn quickly gathered the papers into a pile and threw them on top of the table. Rachel fidgeted with her hands as she watched her girlfriend, worried about how this conversation was going to go. When Quinn sat down and looked expectantly at her, Rachel cleared her throat and joined the other girl on the couch.

"I'm going to assume since you said it was nothing bad, you're not here to break up with me," Quinn said, gazing at Rachel.

"No!" Rachel quickly said. "Of course not."

"Then what is it?" Quinn asked, and Rachel could see the worry in her eyes.

Rachel took a deep breath before saying, "Shelby contacted me this morning."

Quinn's breath hitched, but the blonde didn't say anything. Rachel looked up, wondering if she should continue or give her girlfriend some time to process the information. She decided to give her a few moments, though, and she could tell by the look on Quinn's face that she was in deep thought.

"What—" Quinn paused as she looked away. "What did she want?"

"She asked me if I thought you and Noah would like to see Beth," Rachel softly replied.

"Oh," Quinn whispered.

"I know it's a huge decision and I'm sorry if it feels like I sprung this on you, but I didn't know how else to ask you," Rachel quickly said. "She came to me this morning and maybe I should have told you as soon as I saw you, but I didn't really want to tell you about it at school."

"What did Puck say?" Quinn asked.

"He wants to see her," Rachel replied.

She had discussed it with Puck the moment he walked into school; she knew what his reaction was going to be, though, so there was no need to wait with him. He immediately said yes; he had missed his daughter for so long and she actually thought she saw tears in his eyes.

"Shelby is actually moving to Lima," Rachel continued. "New York isn't working out for her, and she decided this would be a better place for Beth to grow up. I know this is big, so if you need time to think about it—"

"I want to see her," Quinn quietly interrupted.

"You're sure?" Rachel asked, reaching out to take her hand.

Quinn nodded. "I'm sure."

"I will call Shelby and let her know," Rachel said, squeezing Quinn's hand.

"Okay," Quinn breathed out.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Puck said, appearing behind Rachel, causing her to jump; he just laughed, though. "Sorry."<p>

"Your laughter says otherwise," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

When she looked over her shoulder, Puck was actually smiling, which was something he hadn't been doing a lot of lately. Rachel was happy to see him happy, though, and she couldn't really stay annoyed with him.

"Did you tell Quinn?" Puck asked.

"Of course, Noah," Rachel replied. "I drove to her house after school."

"Well?" Puck asked. "Does she want to see her?"

"She does," Rachel replied. "I called Shelby last night and she said you all can meet at my house. Actually, I talked her into meeting at my house; I thought it would be neutral ground and I hoped it would put Quinn a little more at ease with the situation."

Puck nodded. "How's she dealing with it? No trips to crazytown?"

"She didn't say a lot," Rachel said, sighing. "She seemed okay considering, but I could tell she had a lot on her mind." Rachel shrugged. "I spent most of the evening with her; like I said, she didn't say a whole lot, but she didn't exactly seem sad. I would call it more nervousness and slight worry."

"And if anyone could tell, it would be you," Puck replied. "Even before you got all gay for her, you were the one person that could always tell how she was feeling."

"I don't know about that," Rachel replied sadly.

Puck sighed. "You can't blame yourself for that."

"I just wish I had known," Rachel stated. "I wish I had been able to see that she was hurting."

"Sorry to interrupt," Kurt said, walking up beside the two. "Rachel, can we talk?"

Puck nodded to her. "Later."

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked, turning to Kurt, but glancing at Puck as he walked down the hall. "How is Karofsky?"

"They finally let me see him yesterday evening," Kurt said. "He's—he has a long road ahead of him, but I think he's in a better place now. We spoke for quite a while and he knows he's not alone; he does have friends and I plan on being there for him because he needs people that support him." Kurt shook his head. "If his dad hadn't walked into his room when he did—he's lucky. I can't imagine getting to a place where you think you have nothing to live for."

Rachel pulled Kurt into a hug. "Me either, but it happens, and a lot of people are not fortunate enough to make it through it. Luckily, he does have someone like you in his life and maybe he can get to a place where he is happy and accepts himself for who he is."

"I believe he's getting there," Kurt replied, pulling away. "I'm going to the hospital again tonight if you would like to join me."

Rachel smiled. "I think I will."

* * *

><p>As Rachel was sitting at her desk, doing homework, she heard the doorbell ring. Both of her fathers were home, though, and she wasn't expecting anyone, so she let them get it. She heard Leroy say something and then footsteps on the stairs; she sat up straighter, looking at her door, and there was a light knock. Before she said anything, the door opened, and Quinn poked her head inside.<p>

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Quinn asked.

"No," Rachel said, throwing her pencil down, and standing up. "Come in."

Quinn pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked inside. Rachel watched as she made her way to the middle of the room, throwing her bag down on the bed. Quinn had been distracted all day—with good reason—and it made Rachel feel a little helpless. All she knew to do was be there for Quinn and support her, but for once, she didn't really know what to say.

"I thought you were going to stay home tonight," Rachel commented.

Quinn shrugged. "I decided not to."

Quinn sat down on the edge of the bed and Rachel continued to observe her. She could see the nervousness on the other girl's face and she couldn't seem to sit still; her fingers were tracing the design on the comforter she was sitting on and she was continuously biting her lip.

Rachel pushed off the desk and walked toward the blonde, stopping directly in front of her. She ran her thumb over Quinn's bottom lip as she said, "You really should stop doing that."

"Sorry," Quinn said, immediately releasing it from between her teeth.

"I know you're nervous about tomorrow," Rachel said, kneeling down. "_I'm_ nervous about tomorrow, but please don't give yourself a heart attack tonight."

Quinn cracked a smile. "I think I'm too young to have a heart attack."

"I hope so," Rachel said, leaning forward, and giving Quinn a quick kiss. "My point is to relax and try not to worry too much about tomorrow."

"I can't help it," Quinn said with a sigh.

"I know," Rachel said, smiling at her.

"Leroy said it's okay if I spend the night, so—is it okay with you if I spend the night?" Quinn asked.

Rachel laughed lightly. "Would I really say no? So—what did you have in mind for us to do tonight? Maybe a movie; I can make popcorn if you would like."

She hoped watching a movie would take Quinn's mind off things, if only for a few hours. There wasn't much else to do except playing board games since she doubted Quinn would want to go out anywhere.

"A movie sounds good," Quinn said, removing her shoes before scooting further onto the bed.

"Do you have any particular movie in mind?" Rachel asked as she ejected the current disk from her DVD player.

"Still watching that, huh?" Quinn asked when she saw the disk.

"Yeah," Rachel said, putting the disk in its case. "The last episode depressed me."

The last thing she wanted to see was someone doing everything they could to save another person, but that person dying because it was just fated to happen. The episode had traumatized Rachel so much that she hadn't continued on to the next one even though it had been a few weeks. She knew she was being a little irrational about it—it was just a television show after all—but it had hit way too close to home.

"Well, let's watch something not depressing, then," Quinn suggested.

"I think I can find something that fits that description," Rachel said, smiling.

* * *

><p>Neither Rachel nor Quinn slept very well; Quinn's was obviously from nerves and Rachel couldn't sleep because of Quinn's tossing and turning. Rachel eventually gave up and went downstairs to make breakfast; Quinn wasn't far behind and the two, along with Rachel's fathers, ate their breakfast mostly in silence. Rachel knew her fathers were almost as nervous as she and Quinn were. They both loved Quinn and knew this was going to be hard on her, not to mention the fact that Shelby was coming into Rachel's life again.<p>

By the time noon rolled around, it was almost too much for everyone to take. There was such a nervous energy in the room that it was almost stifling and Rachel had to escape to the backyard for some fresh air while Quinn stayed in the living room with Leroy and Hiram. She was sitting on the picnic table when the heard the sliding door open and close; she looked over her shoulder expecting to see Quinn or one of her fathers, but it was Puck.

"I figured you would appear at the last moment," Rachel commented, knowing he wasn't exactly notorious for his punctuality.

"I've been freaking out a little," Puck said, running his hand over his mohawk. "It's been twelve years and I don't want to fuck it up this time."

"You won't," Rachel said sternly.

Puck nodded once and then joined her at the picnic table; sighing, he asked, "How's Quinn?"

"Nervous," Rachel replied. "She still isn't saying a lot, though."

"I guess quiet Quinn is better than scheming Quinn," Puck said with a chuckle.

"She'll be okay," Rachel stated. "I have faith in her."

Puck looked at his watch and then ran his hands over his pants, which were not jean for once. Rachel guessed he wanted to make a good impression, so he was actually wearing dress pants and button up shirt. She frowned at the thought, though.

"Please tell me you're not dressed up to impress Shelby," Rachel said, giving him a severe look.

"Are you ever going to let me live that down?" Puck asked.

"No," Rachel said, crossing her arms.

"I'm not dressed up for Shelby," Puck stated. "I doubt Beth will remember this, but if she does, I don't want her remembering me as some Lima loser."

"Good," Rachel replied, uncrossing her arms.

The door slid open again and the two looked over their shoulders when Leroy announced, "They're here."

Puck jumped up from the table, but Rachel was a little slower to react; she took a deep breath before standing and then checked the back of her skirt for anything she may have sat on. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she and Puck went to the house and Rachel immediately sought out Quinn.

Shelby had just walked in the door and Quinn was staring at Beth with tears in her eyes. Rachel reached out for her girlfriend's hand, which was already waiting for her; she entwined their fingers and gave Quinn's hand a gentle squeeze. Quinn squeezed back and Rachel knew it was her way of saying she was okay. When Puck joined them, he stood behind Rachel and Quinn, putting a hand on their shoulders, and Rachel put her free hand over his.

"Hello," Shelby said as she walked into the living room where the three were standing. "There's someone I would like you to meet again."

Puck walked forward and smiled at Beth, but the little girl turned her head to look at Shelby.

"It's okay," Shelby said, running her hand over Beth's hair. "

"Hi," Puck said, smiling at Beth.

Shelby glanced at him. "Would you like to hold her?"

Puck nodded and reached his hands out for the little girl; Shelby carefully passed her over to him and his smile grew as he looked down at her. He walked toward Quinn and Rachel and the blonde kept her eyes locked on Beth the whole time. Puck stopped just in front of them and looked at Quinn. It put a smile on Rachel's face to see how happy he was; she hadn't seen him like this in quite some time.

"Do you want her?" Puck asked, looking at Quinn.

Quinn bit her lip for a moment but then nodded. "Yes."

Rachel gave her hand a squeeze again before releasing it so she could hold Beth. She watched as Quinn held the little girl for the first time in years. Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw her fathers watching the scene; Hiram was wiping a tear from his cheek and Leroy had his arm around his husband's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Rachel whispered

"I'm good," Quinn said, smiling softly at her.

"I'm going to give you some time together," Rachel said, leaning up and kissing Quinn's cheek. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

Quinn nodded and Rachel locked eyes with Puck; he gave her a nod and Rachel turned to leave the room. She glanced over her shoulder as she walked away and grabbed her fathers by the arms, pulling them into the kitchen with her. She heard Shelby's heels clacking on the wood floor and Rachel knew she was following them.

"We're going to pick up some lunch," Leroy said, kissing Rachel's forehead; he then glanced at Shelby. "Will you be okay?"

"Yes, Daddy," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

Leroy laughed. "We'll be back soon."

As soon as the backdoor closed and Rachel's fathers were on their way, Shelby turned to Rachel with a smile on her face. "Is there anything interesting going on in your life?"

Rachel knew that look—it was the same one she got whenever she thought she had figured something out and wanted to get a confirmation out of someone. Instead of saying anything, though, she asked, "Like what."

"We may not see each other that much, but I do know you, and I know that look," Shelby replied.

"What look is that?" Rachel asked.

"Love," Shelby stated.

Rachel blushed. "I'm that obvious, huh?"

Shelby laughed lightly. "A bit."

* * *

><p>Shelby and Beth stayed well into the evening, eating lunch and even dinner at the Berry house. It was the longest Rachel had been with Shelby in a long time, maybe ever. While she knew they would never have the relationship she would like, it was nice spending time with her and actually getting to have a conversation with her mother. Rachel was slightly surprised Shelby had so easily guessed her feelings for Quinn, but she had no issues with it and even wanted to hear all about how it happened.<p>

Puck left right after Shelby and Beth, but Quinn stayed. The blonde had suggested they pick up watching Friends where they had left off the previous night and Rachel agreed; she didn't really care what they did as long as Quinn was happy. They were several episodes in when Rachel looked to her right and frowned.

"Hey," Rachel grabbed the remote control from beside her and paused the episode, "what's wrong?"

Quinn shook her head. "It's nothing."

"You're crying," Rachel said, wiping the tear from her cheek.

"I'm okay," Quinn replied. "Really. I just—"

"Yeah?" Rachel softly said.

"I've spent the last two years wondering how she was and if I did the right thing," Quinn said, sighing. "I know now that I did. Beth is happy and Shelby can provide for her in a way that Puck and I never would have been able to. I think I can stop worrying so much now because I know for certain she's being taken care of and loved."

Rachel smiled and took Quinn's hand. "It's good to know you're okay with it all. I have to admit I was a little worried about how you were going to handle this.

Quinn laughed lightly. "Well, I had you to keep me grounded, so thank you. I probably wasn't the easiest person to be around this week considering everything."

"I think that's part of the girlfriend job description," Rachel said, laughing.

"I love you," Quinn softly said.

"I love you, too," Rachel said, leaning forward, and giving Quinn a light kiss. "You know I'll always be here for you anytime you need me, right?"

"Watch out or I'll hold you to that," Quinn replied with a smile.

"Please do," Rachel said, leaning forward, and capturing Quinn's lips again.

* * *

><p><strong>Only three chapters left. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.<strong>


	33. Here's to the Night

**ProfessorSpork: It's all your fault that I'm even considering doing the sequel and going with my original idea. I guess if I do it and everyone hates it, I can blame you ;)**

****MmiseryLoves**.Slash: I didn't explicitly mention it, but she was talking about watching the Buffy DVDs Quinn have her; specifically, she was talking about the episode Help from season 7.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 33 – <strong>Here's to the Night<strong>**

"Okay, guys, I know you're all excited, but we need to stay focused," Mr. Schue said. "Rehearse tonight as much as you can, but make sure you get plenty of sleep. It's going to be long bus trip tomorrow—four and a half hours, actually—and it's going to be an even longer night. We'll be rehearsing long into the night, so tonight will probably be your best chance for sleep this weekend."

Rachel wanted to roll her eyes; they were fairly well rehearsed already, but Mr. Schue didn't know that because he was still mostly clueless about what they had been doing. Finn had easily talked him into going with their set list; it hadn't really taken much more than Finn saying he thought it was a good idea and Mr. Schue immediately agreed. Apparently their teacher still hadn't come with any ideas of his own because Finn said he seemed relieved by his suggestion. Rachel wasn't surprised by it, though, since he never had an idea until a few days before their competitions.

"Everyone needs to be in the school parking lot at 7am sharp," Mr. Schue continued. "You need to be here on time; I don't want to have to wait around on any of you because, as I said, we have a long drive, and I want to get to Chicago as early as possible. We will stop for breakfast, though, so you don't have to worry about that. Puck, you still haven't turned in your permission slip from your mom, so make sure you bring that tomorrow morning."

"Thirty years old and I need a permission slip from my mommy," Puck said, leaning toward Rachel to whisper into her ear.

Rachel laughed lightly and Quinn turned to look at her, raising her eyebrow. The brunette just reached over and took Quinn's hand from her lap, entwining their fingers, and putting their conjoined hand on her own lap. Quinn had been doing very well since Saturday; the only time she had cried was right after Shelby and Beth has left. She mostly seemed happy that she had seen her daughter and she appeared to be in a good place about the whole situation.

"Alright, I'll see you all in the morning," Mr. Schue finished. "Remember—be here at 7am."

As with the past week, Mr. Schue was the first one out of the room while everyone else shuffled around as if they were getting ready to leave, but were really waiting for their teacher to exit the room. Once he was gone, everyone turned to Rachel and Kurt, who had made their way to the front of the room. Once everyone had settled back into their seats, Rachel looked at Kurt and he gave her a nod.

"Okay, I know you were all probably expecting to rehearse once again, but you have the night off," Rachel said, smiling.

"Excuse me?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Pardon the language, but everyone has been working their asses off, so we thought everyone deserved the night off," Kurt replied.

"The routines are as close to perfect as we're going to get," Rachel added. "You've all done an amazing job and the group has come so far. I really think we're going to win Nationals this year. So, have fun tonight."

"You don't have to tell us twice," Mike said, standing up.

Rachel laughed. "As Mr. Schue said, make sure you're on time tomorrow; you know he would never leave without anyone, but I do want us to get in a little extra rehearsal tomorrow, so the earlier we get there, the better. Plus, that means more time for us to see the city, which I know everyone is excited about."

"I think that's everything," Kurt said. "We'll see you tomorrow morning."

Everyone started standing up and several people were already heading for the door. Rachel felt like they deserved the night off because everyone had been working incredibly hard for the past several days. They had been rehearsing for hours every single night and had even been coming to school early and skipping lunch, and they had done it without complaint—well, mostly without complaint. They deserved a break for all their hard work and she knew this weekend was going to be stressful enough, so they should all relax while they could.

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" Quinn asked, walking up behind Rachel, and wrapping her arms around the brunette's waist.

Rachel smiled. "I did have plans to sit at home and read, but I might be persuaded to change those plans if a better offer happened to come along."

"Consider this a better offer, then," Quinn said, kissing her cheek. "Come over to my house."

Rachel put her finger to her lip, pretending to think about it. "I don't know; I'm not sure if that's a better offer."

Quinn laughed. "Well, it would make your girlfriend incredibly happy and I'm sure your girlfriend's mother would also be happy to have a dinner guest."

"When you put it like that, how can I say no?" Rachel asked, smiling.

* * *

><p>"Have you ever been to Chicago?" Rachel asked, turning her head to look at Quinn.<p>

"Once when I was little, but I don't remember much," Quinn said, shrugging. "You?"

"A few times," Rachel replied. "My dads took me to a couple shows there and we spent the weekend once, but it's been a while and I'm sure I'll have much more fun with you there."

Quinn laughed lightly. "You sure?"

"Maybe," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn sat up and looked at the clock on her nightstand. "Dinner should have been ready by now."

"Is that your way of saying you're hungry?" Rachel asked.

"Starving," Quinn said, jumping up, and holding out her hand. "Let's go see what's taking so long."

Rachel laughed as she took Quinn's hand and stood up. They walked downstairs, still holding hands, and went into the kitchen, where Judy was just pulling something out of the oven. Rachel didn't know what it was, but it smelled delicious and she knew Judy was a wonderful cook, so it was probably going to taste as good as it smelled.

"Is it ready?" Quinn asked.

Judy rolled her eyes at her daughter. "Will you be patient?"

"Come on," Rachel said, pulling Quinn toward the dining room.

Quinn huffed, but didn't resist Rachel's pulling her toward the other room. Rachel pulled out one of the chairs for the blonde and waited for her to sit down, giving her a kiss once she was seated. Rachel then walked around to the other side of the table and sat in the seat directly across from Quinn.

"I see you managed to get my daughter to sit down," Judy said, walking into the room, carrying the dish that had come out of the oven. "As you have probably noticed, she can be quite petulant when she's hungry."

Quinn rolled her eyes and Judy pointed to her daughter as if to say she had just proven her point, which made Rachel laugh. When Quinn turned her head to glare at her, Rachel tried to stifle her laugh with her hand, but she wasn't very successful. Eventually, Quinn gave up glaring at her and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It smells wonderful, Judy," Rachel complimented after composing herself.

"Thank you," Judy said, smiling. "It's my first attempt at eggplant parmesan, so hopefully it turned out well. Quinn, honey, would you go grab the salad from the counter."

Quinn quickly stood and walked into the kitchen, probably eager to get it so she could finally eat. Judy shook her head at her daughter as she sat down at the head of the table. Quinn walked back into the room a moment later, setting the bowl next to the casserole dish, and sitting back in her seat.

"I imagine you're excited for tomorrow," Judy commented, reaching for the dish in the middle of the table.

"Very," Rachel said, accepting the dish from Judy, and putting some food on her plate. "We've been working toward this for three years and I really think we're going to win this time, don't you, Quinn?"

"As long as Finn kept his lips away from yours, I think we'll be fine," Quinn wryly said.

Rachel laughed and then took a bite of food, letting out a small noise of approval. "This definitely tastes as good as it smells."

Quinn hummed in agreement and Judy smiled widely. "Why thank you. So, Quinn hasn't told me a lot about all that rehearsing you guys have been doing. How's it been going? Do you have a solo?"

Rachel nodded. "It's been going better than expected, and yes, I do have a solo. I actually managed to persuade Quinn into accompanying me on the piano."

"Really?" Judy asked, turning her gaze from Rachel to Quinn. "That's wonderful, honey. I know how much you used to enjoy it before—well, before things."

Rachel had quickly learned that Russell was still a sore subject for the older Fabray and she never directly mentioned his name. A few days after the incident at the mall, Quinn had told Judy about it. Rachel wasn't there, but Quinn had told her that Judy was furious and it was one of only a few times that Quinn had heard her mom swear.

"Well, I can't wait to hear it," Judy stated after a few moments of silence.

"My dads are going and will be filming it, so I'm sure they would make you a copy of the recording," Rachel said.

Judy smiled. "Actually, I switched days with Nancy at work after Hiram asked if I would like to ride there with them on Saturday."

Quinn choked a little on her water. "You're going?"

Judy nodded. "I'm going.

Quinn didn't say anything, but she had a small smile on her face. Quinn probably wouldn't ever say anything about it, but Rachel knew her girlfriend was happy that her mom cared enough to go, and judging by the smile on Judy's face, she knew it too.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe he's making us share a room with those two," Quinn said, looking at their room assignment. "Is he punishing us?"<p>

"I doubt he's punishing us, Quinn," Rachel replied with a laugh. "He probably just knows we're friends and thinks we would like to room together."

Quinn scoffed. "But it's Brittany and Santana—no one in their right mind would want to share a room with them."

"While that is entirely true, he probably doesn't know that," Rachel replied. "He is quite out of touch sometimes."

"Okay, guys, take your stuff to your room, but I want you back here in ten minutes," Mr. Schue announced. "I don't want to waste any time, so we're going to practice tomorrow's routine until it is perfect."

Everyone grumbled under their breaths, except Puck who said, "We're kinda hungry."

"I'll order us all pizza, my treat," Mr. Schue stated.

Most of the group looked a little happier about getting free pizza and everyone disbursed. All of them were on the second floor and they were sharing four rooms, boys in one and girls in the other. Other than their room, Tina, Mercedes, and Sugar were sharing a room; Kurt, Blaine, Sam and Rory were in one of the boy's rooms and Finn, Puck, Artie, and Mike were in the second.

By the time Quinn and Rachel got to their room, Santana and Brittany were already there and had claimed the bed nearest to the window. It didn't really matter to Rachel, though, so she set her suitcase down beside the other bed, and sat down on the soft mattress. Quinn did the same, flopping on her back.

"The rooms are very nice," Rachel commented as she looked around the room.

Quinn hummed in agreement; Rachel looked over and saw that the blonde's eyes were closed, so she nudged her, causing Quinn to ask, "What?"

"You can't fall asleep," Rachel said, laughing lightly. "We have to be back downstairs in five minutes."

Quinn groaned but sat up. "Fine."

"Screw that," Santana mumbled into her pillow. "Britts and me are taking a nap."

"We can't, San," Brittany said, shaking the other girl. "I'm hungry and Mr. Schue said he's ordering pizza. Besides, I don't think he'd be very happy if we skipped practice."

"Looks like you're coming, too," Quinn said, smirking at her friend.

Santana glared at Quinn but didn't contradict her. Rachel laughed as she stood up and walked toward the window to check out the view. They were in the middle of the city and as she looked out the window, it almost felt like she was back in New York. Quinn walked over, wrapping her arms around Rachel; she smiled and leaned back into the embrace.

"Nice view," Quinn said, kissing her cheek.

Rachel heard Santana gagging and she rolled her eyes as she said, "Get a room."

"We have one, thanks," Quinn countered.

Rachel laughed and grabbed Quinn's hand. "We should get downstairs."

"Okay," Quinn said, sighing.

Rachel and Quinn walked to the door, leaving Brittany to deal with getting Santana downstairs. Rachel didn't want to be late since she figured the sooner they got started, the sooner they would finish and have time to go out of the hotel and into the city. For once she didn't have an itinerary and she didn't even research the area; she figured any plans she made would just be changed anyway, so she didn't bother. Quinn seemed determined to make her more spontaneous, which was a little funny because Rachel had never previously thought of the other as girl as being spontaneous herself. The more she got to know her, the more it came out, though, because she was no longer trying to be in such control of every aspect of her life. She was finally letting go and being the person Rachel always suspected was underneath the hard exterior.

"Hey, you two," Blaine said, smiling at them as they came into the lobby.

"We were checking out the place," Kurt said, still looking around.

"We found the indoor pool," Blaine happily announced. "It's amazing.

"I'm glad I remembered to pack my bathing suit," Rachel said.

"I'm glad you remembered your bathing suit, too," Quinn replied with a gleam in her eyes that made Rachel blush slightly.

"We should all go swimming later," Blaine said.

"You all can swim," Kurt replied. "I will sit comfortably at the side of the pool."

Rachel laughed. "You know someone will pull you in by the end of the night—probably Santana."

"She's right, you know?" Blaine replied, smiling at Kurt. "You should just join us and have fun."

They walked into their rehearsal space, which was typically a meeting room that their teacher had procured for them; there were chairs lined up along the wall, giving them lots of floor space, and a stereo was sitting on a table by the wall. Mike, Tina, and Artie were the only ones who were already in the room and they had grabbed several chairs to sit on.

"He should have known almost no one would be here on time," Artie said, looking at his watch. "I suspect most people are taking a nap right now; Puck and Finn were already asleep by the time I came into the room, and they didn't look like they were waking up anytime soon."

"Alright, I'm here," Santana announced as she and Brittany walked into the room. "Where the hell is everyone else?"

"We know that Puck and Finn are asleep," Tina answered. "Mercedes was also lying down when I left our room and I have no ideas where Sugar was."

Santana turned on her heel and Rachel asked, "Where are you going?"

"If I have to be here, everyone else is damn well going to be here even if I have to drag their asses to the room," Santana said as she walked away.

* * *

><p>Rachel was a little disappointed that they didn't have time to go out, so they decided to do the next best thing and go to the pool like they had discussed earlier. It was nine by the time their teacher deemed them ready for the next day and they had to be up early, so everyone had rushed to their room to change. Quinn had decided to go get food first, though, so she still wasn't there and neither were Artie or Mercedes, who both had headaches after rehearsing for so long.<p>

She watched as Mike and Sam splashed each other in the face, clearly at war of some kind. As predicted, Santana had pulled Kurt into the pool within five minutes, and the boy's shrieks could probably have been heard all over the hotel.

"I overheard Puck on the bus telling Finn about seeing Beth," Tina, who was sitting beside Rachel, said as she looked at her. "I guess that means Shelby is back."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, she's back."

"It sounded as if Puck and Quinn were both okay with seeing Beth," Tina continued. "How were you with seeing Shelby again?"

"I was a little surprised by the whole thing, but I'm alright," Rachel said, touched that Tina cared enough to ask. "I accepted long ago that she and I are never going to have the relationship I would like, but maybe we can attempt to be friends rather than mother and daughter."

"You would be okay with that?" Tina asked.

Rachel laughed lightly. "Quinn asked that same question. Yes, I think I would be okay with that; I'm an adult now and I have two amazing fathers, so I guess I really don't feel like I need a mom as much as I once did."

"I'm glad," Tina replied. "I know we weren't really friends at the time, but when she first came into your life, I was concerned—we all were."

"Yeah, that I was going to go over to Vocal Adrenaline," Rachel said, remembering it all too well.

"Not that," Tina said, shaking her head. "We were worried about you. I know not everyone showed it at the time, but we didn't want you to get hurt. I even overheard Quinn talking to Brittany about it; I thought it was a little strange at the time, but it makes sense now. She's always cared about you—I think before she realized it"

Rachel smiled softly at the thought and when she looked up, the girl in question was walking her way.

"You look awfully happy," Quinn said, sitting next to her, and throwing her shoes to the side before dipping her feet into the pool.

"That's because I am," Rachel said, laying her head on Quinn's shoulder.

"Tina," Mike said, waving his girlfriend over.

"I'll talk to you later," Tina said, smiling at Rachel.

"Are you two losers getting into the pool or what?" Santana asked as she swam over to them.

"Maybe later," Rachel replied.

Santana rolled her eyes, but swam away, leaving Rachel and Quinn to themselves. Rachel could feel Quinn's eyes on her, and when she turned to look at the blonde, she was staring at her legs. She laughed lightly, shaking her head; her girlfriend had admitted to having a thing for her legs, but this was the first time she had caught her staring at them. Quinn looked up, locking eyes with her; there was a slight smirk on her face and a gleam in her eyes.

"Have I mentioned how much I enjoy seeing you in a bathing suit?" Quinn asked.

"You might have mentioned it once or twice," Rachel said with a shrug.

Rachel looked at Quinn, who had on a bathing suit, but it was covered by a shirt. She knew Quinn was still very self-conscious about her body, though she really didn't know why. Quinn only seemed to see the flaws; she was worried about stretch marks that Rachel couldn't even see and was unnecessarily concerned about her weight. In her eyes, though, Quinn was absolutely perfect.

"Santana is right," Rachel said, grabbing hold of Quinn's hand. "We should swim."

"I think we should go to the room while Brittany and Santana are still down here," Quinn whispered, leaning close to her.

Rachel glanced toward their friends, who looked occupied with whatever game Brittany was having them play. When she looked back at Quinn, the blonde was smiling at her, and Rachel nodded, smiling back.

"Let's go," Rachel said as she stood up and held out her hands for Quinn.

* * *

><p>Rachel was pacing in front of Quinn, who had her arms crossed and was tapping her fingers against her bicep. The rest of the group was in various states of nervousness, some pacing, some rocking back and forth on their heels, and in Santana's case, muttering to herself in Spanish. This was always the worst part for Rachel—waiting to see if they made it in the top ten to vie for the Nationals title the next day. She knew they did well, but there was always that nagging voice in the back of her mind that told her they could have been better.<p>

"The waiting is killing me," Kurt said, walking up to her. "What is taking them so long?"

"I know," Rachel said with a sigh. "I'm sure we made it, though; we were great, there were no mishaps, and I really think we were the best ones up there."

"Keep dreaming."

Rachel frowned and looked over her shoulder so see a blonde woman with her hands on her hips and a condescending smile on her face.

"Who is that?" Kurt leaned over, whispering to her.

Rachel shrugged and whispered back, "I don't know."

"Mary Cherry, Coach of the Cherry Bombs," the woman said, holding out her hand. "I couldn't help but overhear you since I was eavesdropping."

"Hello," Rachel said, politely shaking her hand, but getting the feeling she should just walk away because the woman looked a little crazy.

"If you really think you're going to beat my Cherry Bombs, you have another thing coming," the woman stated. "Mary Cherry didn't pay for all those professionals for nothin'. I'm gonna take home that trophy and finally make my mamma proud."

Quinn and Rachel locked eyes; the brunette was completely confused, but Quinn looked slightly amused. Kurt's eyes were narrowed and his mouth was slightly open as if he was trying to figure out an appropriate response for the woman. He never got to say anything, though, because there was suddenly a lot of commotion in the room, which could only mean one thing.

"They're posting the list!" someone shouted.

"Let's go," Quinn said, in a low voice as she took Rachel's hand.

There was a mob formed in front of the list and the New Directions gathered off to the side. People that had been at the front of the line and had seen the list were already coming through; some were jumping up and down in celebration, but most had looks of defeat on their faces and some were even crying.

"Who's going?" Artie asked.

"I will," Mr. Schue replied.

"No," Rachel said, looking around at her friends. "I'll go."

Quinn gave her hand a light squeeze before letting go; Rachel made her way through the crowd, slipping between people and getting jostled as she worked her way to the front. She had to wait for several people to move before she could finally see the list. As she scanned over the piece of paper, a smile spread across her face.

"Out of Mary Cherry's way," the woman from earlier said, knocking Rachel to the side, but the person next to her caught her before she completely fell.

"That was very rude."

Rachel looked up to see Jesse St. James holding her up and she gasped slightly. "Jesse!"

"Hello, Rachel Berry," he replied with a smile.

Rachel stood up straight and smoothed down her dress. "Thank you for catching me."

"Always," he replied, his smile turning into more of a smirk.

"Damn; I knew those judges wouldn't know talent if it bit them on the ass. I shoulda listened to Mamma when she told me to buy them those cars."

Jesse and Rachel looked at each other with matching looks of amusement as the woman began shoving her way back through the crowd.

"I should let the rest know," Rachel said, nodding toward the list.

"Maybe I'll see you tomorrow after Vocal Adrenaline wins that trophy again," Jesse said.

"I think you mean after New Directions win it," Rachel replied back.

Jesse laughed and gave her a slight nod before she turned and made her way back to her friends. She spotted Finn first through the crowd; he had his hands on top of his head and was watching her with a nervous look in his eyes. She nodded at him, giving him a smile, and he threw his arms up. She could hear the rest of her friends before she ever saw them and was immediately swept up in a hug as she broke through the crowd. She then felt several more pairs of arms around her and found herself in the middle of a big group hug.

"We're going to the finals!" Quinn said excitedly into her ear.

"We are," Rachel said, smiling.

* * *

><p>Rachel took a deep breath and looked across the stage at Quinn, who was sitting on the piano bench. Quinn glanced up and gave her a soft smile; the New Directions would be announced at any moment and Rachel was about to open the show. Mike was off to the side, ready to come on the stage when it was his cue; she watched as he did a few spins and nodded to himself.<p>

She heard the announcer introduce them and the curtains slid apart. She snuck a glance at Quinn just as she started playing and then looked to the audience as the spotlight illuminated her. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves before starting to sing.

"_I follow the night  
><em>_Can't stand the light  
><em>_When will I begin  
><em>_To live again"_

She saw out of the corner of her eye that Mike had taken to the stage, beginning his dance, while Rachel stood, unmoving, in the center of everything.

"_One day I'll fly away  
><em>_Leave all this to yesterday  
><em>_What more could your love do for me?  
><em>_When will love be through with me?  
><em>_Why live life from dream to dream?  
><em>_And dread the day when dreaming ends"_

As Quinn began playing her musical interlude and Rachel couldn't help but turn her head to watch the blonde. She loved listening to and watching her play the piano. She always seemed to go to a certain place when the instrument was in front of her and it was amazing to see. As the music grew, Rachel managed to tear her eyes away from her girlfriend and began singing again.

"_One day I'll fly away  
><em>_Leave all this to yesterday  
><em>_Why live life from dream to dream?  
><em>_And dread the day when dreaming ends"_

The song was coming to a close and Mike slowed down his movements, getting closer to Rachel, who softly sung the final lyrics.

"_One day I'll fly away  
><em>_One day I'll fly away  
><em>_One day I'll fly away  
><em>_Fly fly away  
><em>_One day I'll fly away"_

Everyone began cheering and the three left the stage, making room for Kurt and Blaine. The second they were out of view from the audience, Quinn picked Rachel up in a tight hug.

"You were amazing," Quinn mumbled against her neck.

"_You_ were amazing," Rachel countered.

Quinn shook her head as she set Rachel on her feet; the blonde took her hand and the two watched Kurt and Blaine's rendition of For Good. Kurt wanted to sing it with Rachel like they had the previous year, but Rachel suggested someone else sing it with him. Blaine was the natural choice and after much rehearsal, the two finally sounded perfect together.

As the song was coming to a close, Mike, Tina, Puck, and Sugar joined them at the side of the stage, and they could see the rest of the group lining up on the opposite side.

"Ready?" Quinn asked, looking at Rachel, and smiling.

"Always," Rachel said, smiling back.

When the music started playing, Puck walked into the stage to begin the song. Rachel and Quinn were still watching from the side and the brunette had a soft smile on her face as she watched her friend.

"_So denied, so I lied  
><em>_Are you the now or never kind?  
><em>_In a day and a day love  
><em>_I'm gonna be gone for good again"_

The song started speeding up after the group decided on a new, faster arrangement for the song. As Finn and Mike took the next verse, everyone else started walking onto the stage.

"_Are you willing to be had?  
><em>_Are you cool with just tonight?  
><em>_Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well"_

All the guys sung the first chorus as the girls danced with them. Rachel was dancing with Puck and gave him a smile before catching Quinn's eyes and smiling even wider at her. Rachel knew the guys sounded amazing and their choreography was going flawlessly—even Finn's.

"_Here's to the nights we felt alive  
><em>_Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry  
><em>_Here's to goodbye tomorrow's gonna come too soon"_

Rachel and Quinn stepped out from the group and joined each other in the middle of the stage. They were supposed to be singing toward the audience, but Rachel couldn't help but turn to her girlfriend, and Quinn took her hand, singing to Rachel as well.

"_Put your name on the line  
><em>_Along with place and time  
><em>_Want to stay, not to go  
><em>_I want to ditch the logical  
><em>_Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well"_

The rest of the girls joined in on the chorus before Santana took over the next verse, belting the words out.

"_Here's to the nights we felt alive  
><em>_Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry  
><em>_Here's to goodbye tomorrow's gonna come too soon  
><em>"_All my time is froze in motion  
><em>_Can't I stay an hour or two or more  
><em>_Don't let me let you go"_

Brittany smiled at Santana as she sung and Tina spun in Mike's arms, singing her line after Brittany's. The whole groups sung the final chorus together, standing in one long line across the stage.

"_Don't let me let you go_

"_Here's a toast to all those who hear me all too well_

"_Here's to the nights we felt alive  
><em>_Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry  
><em>_Here's to goodbye tomorrow's gonna come too soon"_

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief when the music came to a close and the whole room was on their feet. She knew they were going to win this; she had no doubt about it now. Before she knew it, Quinn's arms were wrapped around her neck and her girlfriend was kissing her.

"I think we just won," Quinn whispered as she pulled away.

Rachel smiled; she was pretty certain she won long ago.

* * *

><p><strong>The songs used were One Day I'll Fly Away by Kimberley Walsh (I know there are other versions out there, but hers is the one I know and love) and Here's to the Night by Eve 6. If anyone cares, to get into the top 10 they sang Someday We'll Know, a Sam and Mercedes duet; It Is You (I Have Loved), a Santana solo; and I Want You To Want Me, the group number. The theme was teen movie music except they couldn't say no to Brittany, which is why It Is You (I Have Loved) was in there.<strong>

**If anyone recognizes Mary Cherry…kudos. I feel like she should have had a cameo on Glee long ago, so I had to make it happen.**

**Thank you to everyone that has continued to read this. There are only two chapters left…well, one full chapter and the last will probably be more like the first chapter.**

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	34. Sitting On Top of the World

**ProfessorSpork: Stop that ;)**

**I'm happy to see so many of you liked the Mary Cherry cameo; I didn't think so many people would get it.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 34 – Sitting On Top of the World<strong>

Rachel smiled to herself when she heard the familiar clinging of Quinn's boots against the metal bleachers. It was the last time they were going to be able to meet there on a Monday morning and Rachel was actually a little sad about it. It was their last week of school and she knew better than anyone that nothing would be the same once they graduated. She had already vowed to keep better in touch with people than she did the last time, but she knew that was sometimes easier said than done. Things would inevitably be different and she had a feeling she was going to miss everything more this time around.

"What are you thinking about?" Quinn asked, smiling at her.

"Graduation." Rachel sighed. "I think it's just starting to hit me that it's in less than week."

Quinn nodded. "It's a little scary, isn't it? Things are going to change."

"They are," Rachel agreed.

"We'll have the summer, though," Quinn said, taking Rachel hand. "Two whole months with our friends before we all have to go off into the real world."

"Yeah," Rachel whispered.

Quinn laughed and nudged Rachel in the side. "Shouldn't you be happy? You'll be one step close to New York."

Rachel nodded and put on a smile; she didn't want to bring down Quinn's good mood, but it was hard for her to be happy. Aside from being melancholy about the end of school, she was also terrified about what the end of school might bring. She was all too aware that this week was probably going to be the most stressful of her life.

"Mr. Schue wants us in the choir room in five minutes," Quinn reminded her.

"I know," Rachel said, resting her head on Quinn's shoulder, not ready to leave just yet.

"Let me guess—five more minutes?" Quinn joked.

"Two," Rachel replied. "Five and we would be late."

Quinn laughed as she kissed her forehead. "What do you think our assignment will be for this week?"

"Probably something about saying goodbye," Rachel said, shifting a bit so she could look at Quinn. "I'm sure we'll all be crying by Friday; I know I'm going to be a sobbing mess."

Quinn smiled. "Should I bring tissues?"

"It wouldn't hurt," Rachel replied.

"I'll be sure to come prepared tomorrow," Quinn said, squeezing her hand, and leaning her head against Rachel's. "You already know what you're going to sing, don't you?"

Rachel smiled. "I may have been searching YouTube a few weeks ago and stumbled upon a song that would sum up my current feelings." She grabbed her girlfriend's phone from her lap, looked at the time, and sighed. "I think we're going to be late."

"You're the one who wanted to stay two more minutes," Quinn reminded her.

"I don't remember you arguing with me," Rachel replied.

Quinn shrugged, smiling. "What's he going to do if we're late? It would be a little pointless to kick us out now. Besides, is he ever on time?"

"That's very true," Rachel said, standing up, and making sure there was nothing on the back of her skirt. "He really has set a bad example for us, so he only has himself to blame for our tardiness."

Quinn shook her head and laughed as she stood up. They walked to the school, hand in hand, and Quinn held the door open for Rachel. When they entered the main hall, Rachel was surprised to find a banner hanging above them and several jocks with slushy cups in their hands. Rachel recoiled out of instinct, but the only thing thrown her way was some confetti. Her mouth opened in surprise and she looked at Quinn, but the blonde didn't seem to have an explanation, either, if her shocked face was anything to go by.

The further they got down the hall, the more people stopped to congratulate them, threw confetti on them, or just cheered. Rachel felt like the school had been slightly turned upside down as several Cheerios began cheering for the two of them as they neared the choir room. While they hadn't been bullied nearly as much this year, they were still never anywhere near the top of the social ladder, and this was just strange for Rachel to experience.

"What the hell was that?" Quinn whispered to Rachel when they finally stepped foot into the room.

"I have no idea," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"They got you too, huh?" Sam asked, smiling widely. "I gotta say, it was nice surprise."

"I think you mean a weird surprise," Mercedes replied.

"I thought I was going to get a slushy thrown in my face," Rory said, furrowing his brows. "I'm glad I didn't have to experience that again, though."

"What just happened?" Mike asked as he shook confetti from his hair and then turned to get some out of Tina's.

"I think we just moved up the social ladder," Kurt replied.

Rachel laughed lightly. "And it only took winning Nationals."

* * *

><p>Rachel stared at the envelope Leroy had just dropped off; he wanted her to open it in front of him, but she couldn't. She was too nervous to do it and his lunch hour was over, so he eventually gave up trying to convince her, and made her promise to call him whenever she finally opened it. She was just so afraid that she had done something to mess up getting into NYADA and then she wouldn't know what to do. Obviously she would still go to New York, but the school had opened many doors for her, and she knew it would be more difficult without it.<p>

When Kurt jogged around the corner, she knew he had to have gotten his letter as well; he never ran if it could be avoided, so only something as exciting as getting his NYADA letter would cause such a reaction. As he quickly walked to her, he held up the unopened letter; they had promised each other that they would open them together.

"I think we should open them in the choir room," Kurt stated.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't think I can."

"Okay, the auditorium then," Kurt replied.

"What if I don't get in?" Rachel asked, shaking slightly.

"Then I don't stand a chance," Kurt joked.

Rachel sighed. "I'm serious, Kurt."

"Rachel, whatever the letter says isn't going to change the longer it stays in that envelope," Kurt replied. "You're just going to go nuts wondering what it says." Kurt held his letter up. "I'm opening it."

"Right here?" Rachel asked.

Kurt shrugged. "Why not?"

Rachel knew she was being ridiculous, so she shrugged and said, "Okay."

Kurt ripped into the envelope and Rachel tried to look over shoulder to see what it said, but he was moving around too much for her to be able to read anything other than 'Dear Mr. Hummel'. She eventually stopped trying and waited expectantly as his eye flitted over the page. A slow smile spread across his face, though, and Rachel knew it could only mean he was in.

"You did it!" Rachel squealed, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I did it," Kurt said, sounding as if he was in disbelief; after a moment, though, Kurt started jumping up and down in excitement. "You have to open yours."

Rachel extracted herself from her friend's arm and looked down at the small object. She took a deep breath and carefully slid her finger along the flap; when she pulled the letter out, she took a deep breath before unfolding it.

"Well?" Kurt asked, nearly vibrating with excitement.

"We're going to New York," Rachel stated.

"You're in!" Kurt yelled, pulling her into another hug.

Rachel smiled widely. "I need to find Quinn."

"Yes, of course," Kurt said, letting her go. "I need to go tell Blaine."

Rachel turned and quickly walked down the hall; since it was lunchtime, she knew she would probably find the blonde in the auditorium, where they nearly always ate lunch together. When she opened the door, she saw her girlfriend on the stage, sitting at the piano. As Rachel walked toward the stage, Quinn turned and watched her approach.

"I was wondering where you were," Quinn said, smiling at her.

"Daddy stopped by," Rachel said, holding up her NYADA letter.

Quinn stood from the piano bench and walked toward Rachel, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "I knew you would get in."

Rachel laughed. "I haven't even told you what it says."

"You don't have to," Quinn said, smiling down at her.

* * *

><p>"I'm so proud of you, honey," Hiram said as he hugged his daughter.<p>

"For the record, I've always been proud of you," Leroy said over his shoulder.

Hiram rolled his eyes. "Of course I've always been proud of you, too, but this is wonderful, honey."

She had immediately called her fathers after telling Quinn, but they both insisted on seeing the letter the moment they got home. She joked with them about not believing her, but she was the same way; it's not that she wouldn't believe the person, but she needed to see it with her own eyes for it to sink in.

"I told her we should frame the letter," Leroy said.

"I think there's an empty frame in closet of the guest bedroom that will fit it perfectly," Hiram replied. "I'll go get it right now."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh; her fathers were more excited about getting into NYADA than she was. Obviously she was happy about it, but she was more relieved than anything.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Leroy asked, watching her.

Rachel smiled. "Yes. It's just a very big week and I must admit, I'm a little overwhelmed by everything."

Leroy nodded. "You won Nationals, you just got into the school of your dreams, you're about to graduate—yes, I would say this is a big week for you." He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. "Try to relax and enjoy this week, though. You only get one chance at it and you don't want to regret anything."

There was a knock at the door followed by Hiram saying, "I've got it."

"Dinner should be ready in fifteen minutes," Leroy said, opening up the oven door, and putting in some rolls.

"I found a beautiful blonde on our welcome mat," Hiram said as he walked into the room with Quinn right behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, perking up.

"I invited her," Leroy answered.

"I thought you already had plans," Rachel said, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yes, to come here," Quinn said, smirking. "Leroy had already called me when you asked."

Rachel huffed. "You mean I ranted about why you should come here and ignore you prior engagement for nothing?"

Quinn laughed and gave Rachel a quick peck on the lips. "Yes, but blame your father for that. He didn't want me to tell you."

Rachel frowned in Leroy's direction. "That was mean."

"I have to have my fun somehow," Leroy said, chuckling.

Rachel rolled her eyes at her father and then looked at Quinn, linking their hand together. "We'll be upstairs; let us know when dinner is ready."

"Alright," Leroy replied, kissing the side of her head.

Rachel tugged on Quinn's hand, pulling her toward the living room. Rachel was happy to celebrate with her fathers, but she also wanted a few minutes alone with her girlfriend. Everyone was still on such a high from their Nationals win as well as the fact that she and Kurt had gotten their acceptance letters, and Rachel felt like she hadn't been alone with Quinn all day. She loved her friends more than anything, but she would like five minutes alone with Quinn without any of them seeking her out.

When she entered her bedroom and shut the door behind her, she threw her arms around Quinn's neck and brought their lips together. The peck Quinn had given her downstairs wasn't enough; she needed a proper kiss, which she really hadn't gotten today. Quinn didn't seem to have any objections about the sudden display of affection, though; she wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and opened her mouth, meeting Rachel's tongue.

Rachel pulled their bodies closer and started walking them toward her bed. When the back of Quinn's legs hit the edge of the mattress, she sat down on the bed, bringing Rachel with her. The blonde's hands travelled to Rachel's side, where her thumbs traced over the thin material. Rachel wished she could pull the garment off and figured her girlfriend was probably thinking the exact same thing, but she knew there wasn't enough time for that.

Quinn scooted back on the bed and laid down; Rachel followed her, never breaking the kiss, and hovered above, her hands on either side of the blonde. Rachel moaned when Quinn pulled her hips closer and she felt her girlfriend smile at the reaction she had elicited. Their tongues continued to meld together and Quinn's hands began to roam more. Rachel knew they should slow things down, but she really couldn't seem to make herself say the words. Instead, Quinn was the one to finally break the kiss, leaving them both out of breath and Rachel thoroughly turned on.

"How long until dinner?" Quinn asked, lifting her head to steal another kiss.

"Daddy said fifteen minutes, so probably ten now," Rachel replied.

Quinn groaned as she put her head back on the mattress. "I should have come here earlier."

Rachel laughed lightly and leaned down, kissing her on the cheek. "Maybe we should go downstairs before we get carried away again."

* * *

><p>"Before Rachel sings, I would like to say how much I'm going to miss you—all of you," Mr. Schue said as he stood in front of the whole group. "We've all made these last three years amazing, and for that I will never be able to thank you enough." He wiped at his eyes and put on a smile. "Okay, Rachel, you're up."<p>

"We were supposed to take this week and use it as an opportunity to express our feelings." Rachel cleared her throat and was willing herself not to start crying. "I love you all and I will never forget any of you, but I thought I would use my last song as a part of the Glee club to thank the person that has changed my life the most." Rachel looked at Quinn and smiled. "I love you, Quinn, and I want you to know how happy I am now that I have you in my life."

As the band started playing, Rachel took a deep breath and avoided her friends' eyes; she knew the second she saw any of them crying, she would no longer be able to hold it together. She had finally collected herself enough after the whole club dedicated I'll Be There for You to her and she didn't want to start crying in the middle of her song.

"_Waiting, watching  
><em>_Listening to every little sign I see  
><em>_You are so bright, shining above all the city lights  
><em>_You know, it's right when all of the stars in the sky align  
><em>_If you and I, we are together as one tonight"_

Rachel opened her eyes and chanced a glance at Quinn; her girlfriend was smiling at her and she smiled back. She was trying to avoid looking at Kurt since he had been a crying mess all day; she could see him out of the corner of her eye, but Rachel kept her gaze locked onto the blonde she was singing to.

"_So get up, stand up  
><em>_What you waiting for?  
><em>_Let's go, jump in  
><em>_We gotta live life, give in to being  
><em>_We've got a love like no one knows  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Sitting on top, sitting on top of the world"_

Rachel was smiling widely as she took the microphone from the stand and walked toward Quinn. Though she was smiling as well, the other girl was clearly trying not to cry.

"_Saved me from me, gave me everything I need  
><em>_You'll be forever in my heart  
><em>_So get up, stand up  
><em>_What you waiting for?  
><em>_Let's go, jump in  
><em>_We gotta live life, give in to being  
><em>_We've got a love like no one knows  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Sitting on top, sitting on top of the world"_

Rachel gave Quinn a quick kiss and took her hand, pulling Quinn to her feet as she continued to sing to her. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of looking at her friends; they were all smiling, clapping, and some were dancing in their seats, but several of them were crying as well. Knowing that this was her last performance in this room, as a member of New Directions was too much for her and the tears began to flow.

"_All is quiet at night  
><em>_We say only things for us to hear_

"_So get up, stand up  
><em>_What you waiting for?  
><em>_Let's go, jump in  
><em>_We gotta live life, give in to being  
><em>_We've got a love like no one knows"_

Quinn gave a watery laugh and ran her thumb along Rachel's cheek, catching the tear that had been sliding down.

"_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Now I'm with you  
><em>_Now I'm with you_

"_Sitting on top, sitting on top of the world  
><em>_Sitting on top, sitting on top of the world  
><em>_Sitting on top, sitting on top of the world"_

Rachel wiped her eyes the moment the last note left her mouth; Quinn was hugging her and Rachel gave a small laugh. "I really hoped to make it through that without crying.

"It was perfect," Quinn said before pulling her in for a kiss.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we graduate tomorrow," Quinn mused as she lay on Rachel's bed, looking at their yearbook.<p>

"Are you going to miss it?" Rachel asked, putting her chin on Quinn's shoulder, practically lying on top of the blonde.

"Parts," Quinn said, flipping the page. "I'm not going to miss all the idiots there or being confined to that building for a third of my day, but I'll miss Glee and I'll miss being able to see my friends anytime I want." Quinn shrugged. "I know I'll still see people, but it'll be a special occasion when we get together, and then eventually we'll drift apart because it's highly unlikely that you'll remain lifelong friends with the people you met in high school."

Rachel sighed; she knew Quinn was correct. While she stayed friends with some people after high school, there were others she rarely ever spoke to. She had lost touch with half the Glee club, and only talked to the others every now and then; Blaine and Kurt were the only two she had regular contact with.

"I'm sure everyone will do the best they can to keep in touch," Rachel commented. "Though, yes, people will inevitably move on."

Quinn sighed as she flipped the page to one of the numerous spreads on the Cheerios. "If you could do anything differently, would you?"

Rachel gave an amused smile. "Maybe once upon a time, but I'm happy with the way things have turned out." Rachel nudged Quinn with her shoulder. "Do you?"

"Yes and no," Quinn said, shrugging. "Don't get wrong, I'm happy with things now, but—I wish I could have not messed things up for so long." Quinn laughed lightly, shaking her head. "That probably didn't make much sense. I'm trying to say that I wish things could have been different, especially between us. I wish I hadn't been so scared and pushed you away when you were trying to be my friend. I wasted so much time trying to please other people when I should have only worried about making myself happy."

"Better late than never," Rachel said, kissing Quinn's shoulder.

"I suppose so," Quinn said, looking at Rachel, and smiling.

Quinn abruptly closed the yearbook and turned onto her back, so she was looking up at Rachel. The brunette braced herself for the sudden movement and managed not to completely fall on her girlfriend. Quinn was looking at her with a slight smirk on her face and Rachel knew what that look meant.

"Are your dads going to be home anytime soon?" Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled. "No."

Quinn leaned down and began kissing Rachel's neck; she was working her way up to Rachel's jawline when her phone began to ring. Quinn groaned, but otherwise ignored the phone, and Rachel laughed, trying to halt Quinn's movements.

"Shouldn't you get that?" Rachel asked, knowing by the ringtone that it was Quinn's mom.

"No," Quinn replied.

Rachel gently pushed Quinn away and gave her a kiss on the lips; Quinn sighed and looked around for her phone. It stopped ringing, but a few moments later, began again. She reached for her bag and pulled the phone out, answering it with a, "Hello."

Rachel watched Quinn as she walked around the room, talking to Judy. She could tell the blonde didn't look thrilled by whatever her mom was saying, but Rachel didn't know if that was because of the conversation or because she had interrupted them.

"Okay," Quinn said, sighing, and then ending the call and looking at Rachel. "My mom wants the two of us to have dinner tonight since she knows I'll want to do other things tomorrow night."

Rachel nodded. "It's okay."

"It's really not okay," Quinn said, leaning down, and kissing Rachel.

Rachel laughed. "Try to have fun with your mom. After tomorrow, we'll have the whole summer free, which means we can spend all the time we want together."

Quinn grumbled a little, but kissed Rachel's cheek. "I'll try to come back after dinner."

* * *

><p>Rachel woke up to her phone buzzing on her nightstand and she glanced at the screen to see that Santana was calling her. She couldn't fathom what the other girl could possibly want from her and she was afraid the other girl was up to no good. Sighing, she grabbed the phone and accepted the call.<p>

"Yes?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel," Santana said, sounding a bit out of breath.

Rachel frowned. "Please tell me you're not with Brittany right now."

"What?" Santana asked. "No! Listen, there's been an accident. I'm at the hospital and—"

"You're at the hospital," Rachel interrupted, feeling all the blood drain from her face.

"Are you going to listen to me?" Santana said and Rachel could practically hear her roll her eyes.

Instead of responding, Rachel hung up and jumped off the bed; she numbly walked over to her closet, grabbing the first thing she saw, and pulled the dress on. Her hands were shaking so badly that it took several tries to get the button done. Her phone was buzzing where she set it on her desk, but she ignored it and threw herself across her bed to grab her shoes on the other side. She retrieved the phone, running out of the room and down the stairs.

Rachel flew past Hiram, who was standing near the bottom of the stairs, and out ran out the door without even closing it; she heard her father call after her, but she unlocked her door and jumped in, ignoring him. She was so focused on getting to the hospital and nothing else mattered right now—not her confused father or her phone buzzing nonstop in the passenger seat where she had tossed it or the fact that she was breaking every speed limit. The drive was both slow and a blur; it felt like she was never going to get there, yes she didn't remember half of the relatively short trip.

Her mind was blank except for her brain screaming at her to get to the hospital as quick as possible. She felt numb and it was like she was on autopilot as she turned into the parking lot of Lima Memorial. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach was growing, though, and she felt like she was going to throw up at any moment.

She pulled into the first spot she saw, the tires screeching a bit as the car came to stop. She grabbed her keys and jumped out of the car, running toward the emergency room doors. It occurred to her that she forgot her phone in the car, but she wasn't going to turn around to get it.

The doors slid open as she approached and she stopped just inside, looking around to see where she needed to go. She didn't know whether to go left or right, though, so she quickly walked over to the woman behind the information desk.

"Rachel!" The brunette turned to see Santana with a cup of coffee in her hands and a scowl on her face. "Why the hell did you hang up on me and then not answer your damn phone?"

"Is she okay?" Rachel blurted out.

"She who?" Santana asked, looking confused.

"Quinn," Rachel replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Santana asked.

"You weren't calling about Quinn?" Rachel asked, feeling relief already wash over her.

Santana rolled her eyes. "This is why you don't hang up the damn phone when someone is trying to tell you something. Puck was in an accident—" Santana held up her hand as Rachel opened her mouth. "He's okay. They think he might have a broken arm; he's in X-ray right now."

Rachel wiped at her eyes and let out a small laugh of relief. Santana was looking at her like she was a little crazy, but Rachel ignored it and sat down in the nearest chair. Santana sat down beside her, though she looked a little apprehensive about it as Rachel's laughing got louder.

"Have you lost your damn mind?" Santana asked between gritted teeth.

"Maybe," Rachel said, smiling at her.

"Normal people would be sad that their friend is hurt," Santana noted.

"Why are you here?" Rachel asked, ignoring Santana's comment.

"He called me," Santana said, shrugging. "He was already here and said you weren't answering your phone—big surprise—so he wanted me to keep trying. I didn't think he should be here alone, so I came."

"That's very sweet of you," Rachel said, grinning at her.

Santana crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever."

Rachel looked to the right just as Puck came through the swinging doors. He had a frown on his face, a sling on his left arm, and a few scrapes along his neck and arm.

"Well, this sucks," Puck said, sighing.

Are you alright?" Rachel asked, jumping out of the chair.

"It's broken," Puck said, shrugging, and then wincing.

"What happened?" Rachel asked.

"I was coming to your house when some idiot ran a stop sign and crashed into the side of my truck," Puck said as he adjusted the strap around his neck. "Luckily he hit the passenger side, but my arms slammed into the door from the impact."

"Why were you coming to my house?" Rachel wondered.

Puck glanced at Santana before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out of piece of paper. "I was coming to show you this. It was sitting on my bed when I got home."

Rachel took it from him and unfolded the slightly crumpled paper. The only thing on it was 'Qs ok' in green ink. She turned the paper over to see if she was missing anything, but there was nothing else on it."

"Where did this come from?" Rachel asked.

"No sure," Puck replied. "But I'm gonna guess whatever sent us here, sent this."

Rachel felt the tears well up in her eyes, but she was powerless to stop them. She wiped at them and Puck's strong arm wrap around her, holding her close.

"Does this mean we did it?" Rachel asked.

"I think so," Puck replied.

Rachel took a deep, steadying breath before a smile broke out on her face.

* * *

><p>The members of New Directions milled around the choir room; they would be getting in line for graduation at any time and were just waiting around to be called. The ones that were about to graduate had their cap and gowns on while everyone else were in their regular clothes, but slightly more dressed up than usual.<p>

"Does my hair look okay?" Kurt asked, fussing with his cap.

"Your hair is fine," Blaine said, directing his hands away from his head.

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked.

"He's sure," Santana snapped.

Kurt scowled at her, crossing his arms, and Santana rolled her eyes in response. Rachel shook her head at the two and looked at Quinn, who was watching their friends with a small smile on her face. When the door opened, Rachel expected to see Mr. Schue there since he was the only one not in the room at the moment, so she was surprised to see Shelby standing in the doorway with Beth in her arms.

Rachel nudged her girlfriend with her shoulder. "Quinn, Shel—"

She was suddenly cut off by Brittany's loud squeal, which got everyone's attention, and the blonde was out of her seat, rushing towards Beth and Shelby.

"Is that Beth?" Mercedes whispered.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, approaching Shelby.

"Beth wanted to come watch you guys graduate," Shelby answered.

Rachel smiled at Beth, who was now in Brittany's arms. "Well, I think it's wonderful that Beth is here."

Most of the club converged on Brittany and Beth, but Rachel walked off to the side and Shelby joined her. She watched her friends as they met the little girl for the first time; most of them had been there for Quinn's pregnancy and Rachel knew several of them had wondered about Beth due to conversations she'd had with them.

"I didn't know your friends would be so—eager," Shelby commented with a laugh.

"They generally are, yes," Rachel replied.

"Maybe I should have come earlier," Shelby said as she watched the group with Beth.

"Would you—" Rachel cleared her throat. "My fathers and I are having a barbeque tomorrow and I was wondering if you would like to come and bring Beth. We're all going to be there and most people are bringing their parents and I know Quinn's mom would really like to see Beth. Plus, it'll give everyone the chance to see her and it could be fun."

Shelby smiled. "I would like that, actually."

"Really?" Rachel asked.

Shelby laughed. "Really."

Mr. Schue walked into the room at the moment and said, "Okay, guys, it's time."

Puck, who was now the one holding Beth, brought the little girl over and put her in Shelby's arms. Quinn followed him over, smiling at Beth and Shelby before looking at Rachel and taking her hand.

"Are you ready to officially be done with this place?" Quinn asked.

"Very ready," Rachel said, entwining their fingers together.

"I'll go find my seat," Shelby said, smiling at the two of them before walking out of the choir room.

"Have you changed your mind about Puck's party?" Quinn asked, glancing at her.

Rachel shook her head. "I really think I just want a quiet night alone."

"We can definitely arrange that," Quinn said, kissing Rachel's temple.

* * *

><p>Rachel could hear the laughter of her friends in the backyard and she smiled at the sound. She was watching them from the kitchen window; her friends seemed happier than they had ever been. As she was standing there, she heard the front door close, and a few moments later she heard footsteps on the linoleum,<p>

"Hey," Quinn whispered into her ear as she wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist.

Rachel smiled. "You're late."

Quinn laughed. "Sorry, blame my mother."

"Excuse me," Judy said as she walked past them toward the back door. "You cannot rush perfection."

"She brought a pie," Quinn explained.

"Dessert is always welcome," Rachel replied.

"Why aren't you out there with everyone else?" Quinn asked, nodding toward the window.

Rachel shrugged and Quinn frowned, pulling her into a hug.

"Is everything okay?" Quinn quietly asked.

Rachel nodded. "Everything is perfectly fine; I guess I was just a little—not exactly overwhelmed, but I guess I just needed a moment to myself. Don't worry, though, okay? I'm fine."

"Okay," Quinn said, pulling away. "Do you still need a moment?"

"No," Rachel shook her head, "I'm ready to go back out there."

"Good," Quinn said, taking Rachel's hand. "Is umm—is Shelby here."

"Yes, she and Beth were one of the first to arrive," Rachel replied.

Quinn nodded but didn't say anything. As they walked out the door, Rachel immediately noticed Judy with Beth in her arms; she was hugging the little girl and Shelby was smiling at them.

"My mom has been nervous all day about meeting her," Quinn commented.

"I'm glad she's finally getting to meet her granddaughter," Rachel said, smiling up at Quinn.

Quinn looked at Rachel and gave her a soft smile back. "Me too."

"What are you bitches doing standing over there!" Santana shouted at them.

Rachel rolled her eyes as Santana got a lot of disapproving looks from many of the parents in attendance. Quinn was chuckling beside her, though, and started dragging her toward their friends, who were sitting around a large table, playing cards, and eating. Quinn sat down in one of the empty chairs and pulled the one next to her out for Rachel to sit in.

"I'm going to get some food," Rachel said, leaning down to kiss Quinn's cheek. "Would you like anything?"

Quinn shook her head, so Rachel gave her cheek another kiss before walking over to the large table that contained most of the food. She grabbed a plate and scooped some fruit onto her plate, then walked over to Leroy, who was manning the grill.

"Decided to finally join us, huh?" Leroy asked, putting a veggie burger on her plate.

"Leave her alone, darling," Hiram said, tapping Leroy on the shoulder. "Enjoy your day with your friends, honey."

Rachel smiled at her fathers and walked back to the table to grab two bottles of water, one for her and one for Quinn. The blonde may have said she didn't want anything, but she Rachel made sure to put extra food on her plate since Quinn usually picked food off her plate. Rachel didn't mind, though; she actually thought it was cute.

"So nice of you to join us," Santana sarcastically said the moment Rachel sat down.

"Don't mind, San," Brittany said, frowning at her girlfriend. "She's been grumpy all day."

Santana scoffed. "I am not grumpy."

"Actually, she's been grumpy since last night," Brittany continued. "She was sad you two didn't come to the party.

"Aww, is that true?" Quinn mocked, smirking.

"Shut the hell up, Fabray," Santana said, glaring at the blonde.

Rachel laughed. "Sorry we missed it, but we decided to have a quiet night in."

The truth was, even though she saw the note telling her that Quinn was okay, she didn't want to tempt fate. Puck decided to go ahead and throw his graduation party, though he swore there would be no drinking. He invited Rachel and Quinn because he was inviting everyone, but when she declined, he told her he knew they weren't going to come. She wondered why he was even having the party at all, but he said he felt like celebrating with his friends. Rachel didn't really understand it, but she didn't need to.

"San wants to know when you're going to New York to look for an apartment," Brittany said.

"Britt!" Santana said, covering her face.

"And why does Santana want to know that?" Rachel asked Brittany while looking at Santana.

"Oh, she got into NYU and wants to live with you," Brittany answered. "And I'm coming too since I can dance anywhere."

That wiped the smile off Rachel's face, but everyone around her was laughing loudly now. Even though she was one of her best friends now, the thought of sharing an apartment with Santana was slightly terrifying.

"What's so funny?" Kurt asked, walking over with a plate of food in his hand.

"Apparently Santana and Brittany are moving to New York with you," Mercedes informed him

"Excuse me?" Kurt asked.

"You got a problem with that?" Santana asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Of course I have a problem with that!" Kurt yelled. "I am not living with you."

"Come on," Rachel whispered to Quinn.

"Where are we going?" Quinn asked.

"They'll be bickering for a while, and if Santana is really moving in, I'll hear enough of that in a few months," Rachel replied, with a light laugh.

"Are you really going to be able to live with Santana?" Quinn asked.

Rachel smiled back at Quinn and softly said, "I can think of worse things."

* * *

><p><strong>The song Rachel sung was Sitting On Top of the World by Delta Goodrem.<strong>

**There's only one chapter to go and it's pretty short (around 1600 words), so I've decided I'll probably post it later in the week instead of waiting until next Tuesday.**

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


	35. The End

**Well, here it is. Enjoy…**

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><p><strong>Chapter 35 – The End<strong>

"I can't believe our dreams are finally coming true," Kurt said, walking around Rachel's room, picking up a framed photograph of the Glee members, and then setting it back down.

Rachel smiled to herself. "Me either."

"I just hope Blaine is okay," Kurt said with a sigh.

"Have you two talked about this?" Rachel asked.

"Of course," Kurt replied. "But I know this is going to be hard for both of us. At least you and Quinn are only going to be a train ride away from each other. I know Blaine feels like he's being left behind, but we've discussed it and I know he's happy for me. It's just going to take some time getting used to the idea that he's here and I'm there."

"I know it probably doesn't feel like it now, but the time will fly by," Rachel said. "Blaine has his senior year to look forward to and you'll be at NYADA. Just make sure you two talk often and I believe everything will be fine."

Kurt nodded. "I hope you're right."

"I'm always right," Rachel joked.

Kurt cocked his eyebrow. "Sure you are."

Rachel laughed, shaking her head, and walked over, taking the picture Kurt had previously picked up and depositing it into the nearest box.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Kurt suddenly said, looking very excited. "Finn had a date last night."

"Really?" Rachel asked. "With who?"

"He wouldn't tell me her name," Kurt replied, shrugging. "He actually asked me not to tell anyone, but I thought you would like to know. I think he really likes her; he was walking around with a dopey grin after he came home last night."

Rachel smiled as she removed several photos from around her mirror. "I'm happy for him."

Other than changing her and Quinn's lives, she knew coming back had the biggest effect on Finn's future, and she had always worried what it would to do him. Her plan was never to mess up his life, so she was relieved that things were going well for him. After a few missteps after their breakup, he finally seemed to be pulling himself together and genuinely seemed happy. She finally felt like she could consider Finn a friends again and she only hoped the best for him. Whoever he did end up with, she hoped they made each other happy—something she and Finn were never really able to do.

"Is Sam doing any better?" Rachel asked, looking over her shoulder.

"He's still moping," Kurt said, sighing. "Sometimes he reminds me of a lost puppy. It's not like Mercedes had even been gone that long."

Rachel laughed lightly and shrugged. "He's in love and misses her; it's only natural for him to go through a sort of mourning period. Things have changed; she's in a different state and he can't drive across town to see her—and don't tell me you're not going to do the same thing when we get to New York and you're missing Blaine."

"Tina came by with a pint of ice cream last night, and they commiserated over some action movie," Kurt continued, ignoring Rachel's comment. "I keep telling him that he'll feel better if he talks to someone, but he's being such a boy about it. As least Finn will still be around—not that talking to him would be that much help."

Rachel grabbed her phone to look at the time and noticed that she had a text message from Quinn. She smiled when she saw her girlfriend's name on the screen and ignored the fact that Kurt rolled his eyes at her.

"Quinn is on the way," Rachel announced.

"I suspect that message said more than that considering your smile," Kurt replied.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're getting as bad as Santana; I fear what it's going to be like living with the two of you."

"When is she arriving?" Kurt asked.

"I'm going to guess right now," Rachel said as the doorbell rang.

"I should go," Kurt said, giving Rachel a quick hug. "I'll see you in a little bit. Let me know when you're on your way."

"We'll pick you up after Santana," Rachel reminded him.

"I'll let Quinn in," Kurt said as he went toward the door.

She listened as Kurt descended the stairs and heard him greeting Quinn, followed by her footsteps coming up to her room. The blonde was smiling as she walked in and Rachel smiled back, receiving a kiss in greeting.

"Are you almost ready?" Quinn asked, looking around.

"Yes, I'm just packing a few things for my dads to bring up next week," Rachel replied.

"I can't believe you're not done packing," Quinn said, smirking.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Well, if someone hadn't been spending every moment of her life distracting me for the past few weeks, I would be."

Quinn laughed. "Who would do such a thing?"

"Oh, I don't know," Rachel said, giving Quinn a pointed look.

Truthfully, Rachel didn't really care; she had been enjoying herself immensely and wouldn't change any of it for the world. Their summer had been amazing. Not only had she spent almost all of it with the woman she was head over heels in love with, but she'd had two amazing months with all of her friends. Some days it would be just her and Quinn, but a lot of days were spent at one of their friend's houses. For the first time in her life, Rachel truly felt loved by this group of people; she finally felt like she knew each and every member—and former member—of her little makeshift family.

One by one, her friends were beginning to depart for college or for whatever they had lined up after high school. Mike had already departed the previous week and Mercedes had left a few days prior. Puck and Finn were choosing to stay in Lima, both going to a local community college. They had thrown a large party the night before Mike left and Rachel knew it would probably be the last time the whole group was together for a while. It was a bittersweet moment for them all; there had been singing, laughter, and quite a few tears.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked.

Rachel looked at the blonde and smiled, nodding her head. "I'm good."

"I doubt you'll be saying that in a few hours," Quinn said with a light laugh.

Rachel sighed. "Probably not."

Rachel was packing the rest of her belongings and then they were going to be on their way to New York. Her fathers were already in the city, preparing the apartment they'd found for the four friends. They were driving the minivan they had taken on spring break and Hiram was going to drive it back. Quinn was going to stay with them for the next week before taking the train to New Haven for the start of school. Before they were in New York City, though, they had a ten hour drive with Santana.

"What else needs packed?" Quinn asked.

"Just some books and the rest of these clothes," Rachel replied, folding the next to the last dress. "The things I'm bringing today are already downstairs."

"Are these the books you wanted to take with you?" Quinn asked.

"Yes, can you put them in the box over there?" Rachel asked, nodding her head toward the one sitting on the desk, as she folded her last dress, and put it into the medium sized suitcase on her bed. "I think that's actually the last of it."

"What's this?" Quinn asked.

"What's what?" Rachel asked, zipping up the luggage.

"This envelope," Quinn replied. "It fell out of your yearbook."

Rachel looked over her shoulder and frowned. "I have absolutely no idea."

Rachel walked over and took the envelope from Quinn's hands, turning it over, but there was nothing on the outside to tell her what it was. It definitely wasn't in there a few days ago when Kurt had been looking at it and she wondered if maybe he had put it in there, but she didn't know why he would. Kurt was more the type to say something to your face, not stick it in a book and wait for you to find it. When Rachel opened the envelope, she pulled out a piece of paper; it was a letter, written to her, in green ink.

_Hi Rach,_

_You've probably been wondering why you're there but you might've figured it out by now. I sent you there to stop Q from dying. I would  
><em>_have sent you back sooner but I just finished the time machine…actually it's really more of a gun like thing that you point at someone and  
><em>_it sends them to the time you want. I sent Puck back first to stop Finn from kissing you at Nationals so you wouldn't date again but that  
><em>_didn't happen so I had to send you. I knew you two would be the two that could save her if I could just finish the thing to send you. I  
><em>_always knew Q loved you and you could love her if she would just show you who she really is. I know you're probably worried about her  
><em>_but she's ok now. Whatever you did saved her._

_Love,  
><em>_Britt :)_

"What does it say?" Quinn asked.

"Nothing," Rachel said, pocketing the letter, and holding out her hand. "Are you ready to go?"

"To start the rest of our lives?" Quinn smiled and took Rachel's outstretched hand. "I think I'm ready."

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><p><strong>I hardly know what to say. Thank you all so much for reading this story; it's been a lot of work, but I enjoyed writing it and I'm glad so many of you enjoyed reading it. <strong>

**Hopefully no one was disappointed with the ending; I definitely didn't wrap everything up because I wanted to leave some things open and, like life, not everything gets resolved quickly.**

**I know many of you have asked about a sequel and there may or may not be one. I actually have two ideas—one is my original plan for the story and the other would continue on with their lives from where this one left off. If it does happen, it wouldn't be until probably late in the summer.**

**I do plan on starting a new Faberry fic, so either keep an eye out for it or you can follow me on tumblr, which would be the easiest way to find out when it's coming. I also have a twitter, but I use that more to complain about bad drivers and whine about school. If you have any questions about this story, either PM me on here or send me a question on tumblr and I will gladly answer it if I can.**

**Again, thank you to everyone that has read, followed, favorited, or reviewed. I tend to be quite pessimistic when it comes to the things I write, so all the support and kind words is what motivated me to keep writing. I'm happy I was able to complete this story, but like many of you, I'm sad it's over.**

**For the final time…as always, reviews are greatly appreciated.**


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